Tuned In...Seriously

Nerd Herders Rejoice!

2009-10-31T10:50:00.008-04:00

This week brought a delightful Halloween treat for "Chuck" fans everywhere: not only will NBC be bringing the show back earlier than March, they've also tacked on 6 additional episodes to the original 13-ep order!!

Breaking: NBC ups 'Chuck' order

Kudos to NBC for the wise move. They've made some rather questionable decisions this season: axing "Southland" before it even premiered and giving Jay Leno five nights a week to be unfunny, among others.

In other semi-related Chuck news, the erstwhile Bryce Larkin (Matt Bomer) has his own brand-spanking new show on USA, "White Collar." It also has Willie Garson (Stanford from SATC), Marsha Thomason (Las Vegas), and Kelly Kapowski (I mean, Tiffani 'don't call me Amber' Thiessen). The show pulled in decent numbers for its premiere and the reviews are mostly positive. The pilot was enjoyable, with its fun banter between the two show leads and the charming Bomer. USA Network, I think you've scored another hit!

The upside for NBC this winter is the Olympics, bringing much needed advertising dollars and viewers. Midseason will also see the debut of the buzzed about new drama, "Parenthood" starring Peter Krause (Dirty Sexy Money, Six Feet Under) and the newly cast Lauren Graham (Gilmore Girls).

Anyone feeling the new crop of shows?

2009-09-27T17:33:00.004-04:00

To be honest, very few of the new shows look good this year. I passed on checking out most of them, but gave about five of them a try. The appraisal so far:

Modern Family - funnier than expected. The entire cast is a hoot. And Edward Norton will be popping up sometime in the near future, so that gives me a good reason to keep watching for awhile.

Cougar Town - better than expected as well. Not as funny as Modern Family but it could get there. It is from Bill Lawrence after all! I'm a little apprehensive about how long they can keep up the funny if it's always centered around Courteney Cox's character being on the prowl for younger men.

Eastwick - my least favorite so far, but it wasn't terrible. The pilot was a little uneven, things felt a bit rushed. The guy playing Darryl Van Horne is a bit annoying. He needs to amp up the charm and mysterious vibe more. All in all, it's worth at least another few episodes.

Flash Forward - my absolute favorite of the newbies! Excellent cast (Penny from Lost!Harold from Harold & Kumar!) and intricate plot. From the looks of the preview for the rest of the season, it just gets better. Dominic Monaghan (Charlie from Lost) shows up around episode 5 or 6 I believe, but that can't come soon enough!

I haven't watched Community's 2nd episode yet, but I'm hopeful that it won't disappoint.

I've decided to pass on anything new offered up by CBS (as always), the CW (that terrible modeling show starring Mischa Barton? Already cancelled!) and Fox (aside from the wonderful Glee - whatup Acafellas!)

Fall TV is here!

2009-09-08T18:25:00.006-04:00

The 09-10 TV season is upon us! I know I've been severely slacking in the posting department since.....springtime?! Oops! Summer is always nice because the cable networks put out some high quality programming. But it also makes for a very light schedule for me personally.

"True Blood" has been PHENOMENAL. I can't believe the season finale is this Sunday. I'm squarely on Team Eric. But then again, a tiny part of me is still on Team Bill - is it necessary to choose just one?

"Army Wives" has been a bit of a snoozefest and also seeming like a PSA on health issues lately. "Psych" continues to delight and "Big Brother," which I no longer have any qualms about admitting to watching, has been (as expected) crazier than ever. Almost a shame it'll all be ending soon....

My usual pre-season routine is to watch whatever pilots are available. This year, I've only seen "Community." It's got Joel McHale (of The Soup) and Chevy Chase and a decent amount of potential. The pilot made me laugh out loud a few times (always a good sign), so I'm going to give it a try. I wasn't terribly satisfied with the "30 Rock" series premiere, but I decided to give it a try later on and now it's one of my Top 5 favorite shows! So hopefully "Community" ends up being the next "30 Rock" and NOT the next "Kath & Kim."

For the last few weeks, I've been repeatedly receiving e-mails from various sources telling me to check out an early screening of ABC's new comedy, "Modern Family." And I keep reading that it's hilarious and one of the best new comedy pilots this season, can anyone tell me is it honestly worth the effort? Should I even bother?

When you have at least 22-25 shows on your regular viewing roster, it's hard to justify adding too many more newbies. BUT it's very easy to decide what NOT to try: "Melrose Place," "Vampire Diaries," (or anything new on the CW for that matter)anything on CBS. ABC always ends up with most buzzworthy new lineup, but yet they always end up disappointing me the most. It's hard to get over the premature cancellation of really great shows (Pushing Daisies!! thank goodness for DVDs!). So we'll see how badly ABC will treat its new crop. Cheers for the surprising renewal of "Better Off Ted," but jeers for burning off some excellent episodes in the primetime wasteland of summer.

More to come soon!

Midseason Review

2009-03-16T18:04:00.002-04:00

Is it bad that I'm already looking forward to the summer TV season? As they say, it seems that the best shows really ARE on cable. Some are premiering soon, others follow in June: Psych, Burn Notice, Army Wives, In Plain Sight (premieres in April), and My Boys returns on March 31st!

Ratings are dismal for the majority of my favorite shows (of course). Can anyone explain these puzzling facts to me?:

- Dancing with the Stars has more viewers than almost all the shows I watch on Monday COMBINED.

- 2/3 of ABC's fall Wednesday line-up gets canned, yet According to Jim is STILL ON?! What the f#@&?!

- People still watch American Idol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the upside, I LOVED LOVED LOVED last Thursday's ER! Amazing that they were able to get Clooney, Margulies, La Salle, and Wyle all back. The way they were weaved into the story didn't feel contrived. Nothing was crazy over-the-top (which ER does quite often). So kudos to the ER crew!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My take on some of the newbie shows this season follows:

* Biggest Surprise (cable) - Leverage (TNT)
Hands down, best new series of the year! It was just, for lack of a better term, fun. I loved seeing how the con would unfold and the team work together. My favorite character is a toss-up between Parker (for all her crazy acrobatics + priceless facial expressions) and Hardison (for his wisecracks + uber-tech-geekiness).

* Biggest Surprise (network) - Life on Mars (ABC)
This one took a little time to really find its footing. It developed quite nicely and really grew on me. Half of me regrets getting invested in yet another show cancelled before its time, but the other half is glad I did. I want to know just why Sam Tyler is stuck in 1973. Shame on ABC for cutting the mystery short, but I guess I should be grateful that they gave the showrunners time to prep a proper ending.

* Biggest Letdown: Trust Me (TNT)
I tuned in for the first 4 or 5 eps and have since fallen behind. Do I care to catch up? Eh, not really. I thought the show had potential, given its talented cast. Eric McCormack's Mason is just such a Debbie Downer. And not in a funny way. I just don't find it very believable that this guy is supposed to be some advertising genius. He's always stressed and having to find last resort solutions. And he smiled maybe twice in those 4 or 5 eps that I watched. Tom Cavanaugh's slacker/supposedly playboy Connor is only semi-entertaining. Seems like he's trying too hard to be "quirky." But neither is as downright annoying as Monica Potter's character, Sarah Krajicek-Hunter. I think my eye twitched everytime someone said her name. Krajicek-Hunter, doesn't is just sound pretentious? She's high-strung, high-maintenance and the least likable character on the show.

I also caught the pilot episode of "Castle" starring the fabulous Nathan Fillion. More to come on that after the 2nd ep has aired.

As for the sophomore and veteran shows, a lot have left me feeling, eh. Those culprits would be Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters and Gossip Girl (SO over the Dan and Serena drama and all their BLAH-ness).

I'm still puzzled about ABC's scheduling decisions -- moving Samantha Who? to Thursdays for half of Ugly Betty's spot. I still like the show, I just don't love it. Don't get me wrong, Christina Applegate is perfect for the role. All the best lines go to Andrea or Sam's mom. But I just don't find myself laughing out loud too often anymore. I guess you could say some of "Sam's" cutesiness has worn off.

2008/2009 season casualties (so far): Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money, Lipstick Jungle, Life on Mars. Let's all take a moment to mourn. :(

New Year, Same Resolutions?

2009-01-19T14:20:00.010-05:00

It's that time of year again, time for that brain cell-reducing, time-wasting black hole known as American Idol. That means it's time for me to (again) refuse to tune in. My time can be better spent on original and much more creative scripted programming. I beg all of you, fellow quality-TV enthusiasts, to resist the AI temptation!! Please?

The midseason schedule is getting to be a bit difficult to keep track of, what with all the (unofficial) cancellations, premieres, and timeslot switches. Here's a breakdown of the weekly schedule with changes noted:

Merry Christmas to All!

2008-12-24T15:57:00.002-05:00

Wishing everyone a safe and joyous Christmas!!

Except for the folks in charge over at ABC. A big bah humbug to those that cancelled Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone and Dirty Sexy Money. And for all the messy ghost Denny business on Grey's Anatomy.

Gotta Love Freebies!

2008-12-05T12:40:00.006-05:00

I opened my mailbox the other day to find this clever little promo item promoting the new TNT show "Leverage."

I have to admit that I knew nothing about the plot or cast (aside from Timothy Hutton). But they certainly grabbed my attention with this. And it helps that they sent a flash drive containing the full pilot episode. Sweet!

Here's the premise breakdown from the official "Leverage" site:

The series follows a team of thieves, hackers and grifters who act as modern-day Robin Hoods, taking revenge against those who use power and wealth to victimize others.

In LEVERAGE, Hutton plays former insurance investigator Nate Ford, a once-loyal corporate employee who had recovered millions of dollars in stolen goods for his employer. But when that employer denied his son’s insurance claims and allowed the boy to die, he realized he could no longer work for such an entity.

Out of work and descending into alcoholism, Ford is hired by an aeronautics executive to recover airplane designs the executive claims were stolen by a rival company. Helping him are four highly skilled team members: Parker (Beth Riesgraf – Alvin and the Chipmunks), an expert thief; Alec Hardison (Aldis Hodge – Friday Night Lights),a specialist in Internet and computer fraud; Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane – Into the West), a high-octane “retrieval specialist” who can take out a gang of henchmen without breaking a sweat; and Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman – Coupling), a grifter who could win awards for her acting skills during difficult scams. At first the newly formed team is hesitant to trust each other after so many years working alone but being double-crossed changes the dynamic, ultimately forcing them to unite. They emerge from the job realizing they are far better working together than apart. Once they discover they can trust each other the group targets their cons toward the richest, the greediest and the most unjust.

I'll definitely give it a shot. Hey, any show featuring Christian Kane is worth this die-hard "Angel" fan's time.

"Leverage" premieres on Sunday, Dec. 7th @ 10PM EST. New episodes will air on Tuesdays @ 10PM.

Vote for Pushing Daisies!

2008-10-29T14:31:00.007-04:00

ABC is the lone network not airing the Obama informercial tonight. So if you're not an undecided voter (or if you've taken advantage of early voting), give "Pushing Daisies" a try!

Please? I'm asking nicely. Don't make me beg. But I will if it comes to that.

Pleeeeease watch Pushing Daisies tonight at 8PM on ABC!!!

Who doesn't love lipsynched '80s songs?

2008-10-27T19:10:00.004-04:00

"It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight...."

Cheers to the "Supernatural" crew and the CW for airing this minute and a half of pure cheesy, lipsynched awesomeness!

Last Thursday's episode, "Yellow Fever," was THE funniest episode of "Supernatural" yet.

It is truly one of my top 5 shows this season. And that is a hard-earned title, given that it is awarded by ME (someone who watches one too many shows!). The other shows that I have bestowed that honor upon are: Chuck, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, and (though it might be premature, given that I've only seen the season premiere) 30 Rock. In my opinion, these shows are thriving creatively, even if their ratings are lacking.

That's the biggest surprise in this early part of the TV season -- that so many good shows are finding themselves on the bubble. Can someone please explain to my why more people would rather watch "Two and Half Men" or "Dancing with the Stars" than Chuck Bartowski and co?

On the positive side, there were a few pleasant surprises last week. Nicole Richie as Sarah's nemesis from high school on "Chuck" was not bad. Was that her first true acting gig? Anyone know?

Katie Holmes did a decent turn (and kick!) on "Eli Stone." She actually made me forget for 45 min. that she's Mrs. Cruise. She was delightfully charming. I wouldn't mind seeing her character return later in the season.

Random complaint: why is Monday the new Thursday? In terms of scheduling I mean. Eight shows in one night takes its toll on my TV-loving brain. I'm mostly reduced to watching the ones I cannot record online. It usually takes me until Friday to catch up on it all. Oy. I'm already exhausted and it's not even November sweeps yet!!

Supernatural: Holy S&%#!

2008-09-19T16:04:00.010-04:00

And I actually mean holy. Dean Winchester plucked from the depths of hell by an angel? Just one of many revelations from the season premiere.

Should this angel Castiel (if we are to believe he is indeed who he says he is) be trusted? Exactly what kind of work does he want to recruit Dean for? Well, whatever it turns out to be, we should really say hallelujah! to him for reuniting the Winchester brothers.

Ruby’s back! And she looks a hell of a lot like Kris Furillo! Since only Sam and the audience know “Kristy's" real identity, I do wonder if Genevieve Cortese will be sticking around or if Ruby will jump from body to body. Will there be different actresses portraying Ruby throughout the season?

Ruby’s been helping Sam harness his powers, which we haven’t seen much of since the first season. Well it looks like they've been successful, given that scene in which he sends the diner girl demon straight to hell with nothing but his eyes closed and his hand focused on his target. Daaaamn. No wonder Lillith was afraid of him. It’s a good thing Sam kept this secret from Dean...

...who apparently thinks it’s a wise idea to keep his memories of his time in hell all to himself. You know it’s going to come back and bite him in the ass (not literally though, like those hellhounds tearing up his innards yuck). Poor guy. Of course, nothing stops Dean from shooting off his trademark wiseguy one-liners. My favorite exchange of the night came when Dean was reunited with his true love, his Chevy Impala:

Dean: “What the hell is THAT?”
Sam: “That’s an iPod jack.”
Dean: “You were supposed to take care of her, not douche her up!”

Fringe: Two Thumbs Up!

2008-09-12T17:47:00.008-04:00

Is it just me or did the opening shot instantly bring to mind, Alias? I guess that shouldn't be too surprising, given that this is a JJ Abrams creation. The mystery case of the episode was both engrossing and well, just plain gross. An airborne toxin that causes the flesh to melt completely off your body. Ick.

The show has been described as Alias meets Lost meets the X-Files. It has many of the elements that made those shows cult hits: a kick-ass female lead, a smart-ass leading man (who of course has mad chemistry with said female, which will lead to all sorts of romantic tension and the will-they-or-won't-they debate, resulting in either happy or frustrated viewers), an eccentric genius, a mysterious boss who recruits the female lead into a secret organization, and lots of interesting, yet admittedly convulted mysteries. It also shares something directly with both Alias and Lost: musical scoring by Michael Giacchino. Mr. Giacchino's beautiful work adds to the scenes rather than distracts and really punctuates the tension.

While the pilot started a tad bit slow, it really picked up once Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) entered the picture. Oh Pacey, you've been away from my television MUCH too long!

Dr. Walter Bishop, sprung from the mental institution, proves to be instrumental in solving the case and saving the day. He also serves up some much needed comic relief.

"Oh! I just pissed myself. Just a squirt"

"Excellent. Let's make some
LSD."

(chuckes)"This is a show for children? Suprisingly profound for
narrative about a sponge."

Anna Torv is an engaging lead - JJ sure knows how to pick 'em! I'm interested to see how her character develops over the season and I enjoy her exchanges with Joshua Jackson. We'll see how she measures up to Sydney Bristow.

Overall, the pilot was good enough to grab my undivided attention and earn a spot on my TV roster.

I give it:
- Set your season pass, beyotches!

Week One Premieres: The Surprising and the Not-So-Surprising

2008-09-07T17:52:00.006-04:00

Is it odd that I found Prison Break to be the best of the Monday night premieres? I'm happy they're no longer shackled down by the in-prison scenery; the plot seems to move at a much more rapid pace. I mean hell, how many characters did they kill off in the first hour alone?

I have a surprisingly positive outlook on this new season for the PB-ers. And T-Bag is just as creepy as ever. I can't wait until he's back to torturing the rest of the gang.

Gossip Girl was entertaining as always. I loved the twist with Blair's seemingly bland, fake-boyfriend. He's a British Lord! I'll admit: I'm a sucker for cute accents.

The only storyline I had issue with was Nate's little Cougar affair. 1) I'm sick of the 'cougar' term [anyone else? show of hands??] 2) this plot device has been overly used and 3) I'm sure there are MANY other ideas they could have come up with that would be much more original, instead of following a TV trend.

Bones returned on Tuesday with a two-hour premiere which found Booth & Brennan in jolly old England! I missed the squints, but I'm still annoyed at the show for what they did to Zack. I've read that he will re-appear throughout the season, but it's just not the same. :(

Finally, with much reluctance, I watched the new 90210. I even held off, by DVR-ing it when it re-aired on Thursday. I was never a big fan of the original (I barely admitted to watching even a few episodes back in the day), but it had a certain cheesy, over-the-top, guilty-pleasure quality to it that was just too hard to ignore.

So what to say about this new incarnation? Weeeeell......it wasn't 'horrible' per se. It wasn't great. The positives: Jessica Walter (who will forever be Lucille Bluth in my mind) stole every scene she was in and was the only character to make me laugh and the old-school BH-ers, Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty. Call it wishful thinking, but I was half-expecting a little bitch-slap action. C'mon girls, just humor us a bit.

Will I be watching next week? Since House won't premiere until the following week, maybe. Then again, there's the 2-hour premiere of Fringe and any project created by J.J. Abrams automatically gets a slot on my Watch Live list! And it's got Pacey in it. I am so there.

It's September? How did THAT happen?

2008-09-01T16:19:00.006-04:00

Does anyone else feel like August just whipped by at warp speed? In just a few weeks, fall will be upon us. FALL! But you know what the best part about that is don't you? New TV!! wooooooooooo!

Things kick off with tonight's season premieres of Gossip Girl, Prison Break and One Tree Hill.

I'm a little iffy on Prison Break. While I'm certainly joyful that Michael will have Dr. Sara Tancredi back (complete with her head on!) [and mainly because that man deserves to have something go his way], I think they really could have ended this show a LONG time ago. If the season doesn't end with Linc and Michael (finally) taking down The Company and having their happy ending, I'll be quite perturbed.

Those spoiled, over-sexed, drama queens of Gossip Girl are also back and I must admit, I'm a little giddy. The premiere kicks off in the Hamptons - which equals a whole lotta debauchery and guilty fun!

And One Tree Hill returns......we'll find out the identity of the mystery woman on the other end of Lucas's call. Whoopee. Can you sense my 'excitement?' Why, oh why do I still watch this show? Actually I do know - that adorable little kid who plays Haley and Nathan's son. He's gotta be the cutest little child actor on TV. Want proof?

And So My Summer Spiral of Shame Begins...

2008-07-15T20:57:00.003-04:00

Just what did I find myself watching on Sunday night? None other than the "Big Brother" season premiere. What kick-started as a TV show swap deal with my friend, Reality Queen [I would watch a non-scripted show that she selected (BB) and she would catch up on a scripted show I selected (My Boys)] has now claimed a spot on my viewing schedule. I reluctantly watched BB season 8 last summer - all THREE weekly airings - and got completely sucked into it. I managed to avoid it during the strike-affected late fall/winter season, but somehow my unhealthy curiosity has drawn me to the BB housemates once more. Oy.

And the shame spiral does not end there folks. Alas, what did I follow up that hour with? "I Love Money" Yes, that I Love Money. The one with all the rejects from Flavor of Love, Rock of Love and I Love New York. What is wrong with me?

Although I've ranted on and on about how I hate reality shows, for some oddball reason, I'm ok with them if they're on cable. I've even found myself landing on The Next Design Star (HGTV), the Next Food Network Star, and What Not to Wear (TLC) while channel-surfing. Then again, I'll watch just about anything on the Food Network (who doesn't love Unwrapped or Ace of Cakes?)

Lazy Hazy Days

2008-07-09T22:06:00.008-04:00

I blame my lack of posting on the combo of 90 degree days and crazy torrential rain. Or just plain laziness on my part. It's odd to only have three shows in my viewing rotation (until tomorrow that is, when the highly-anticipated second season of "Burn Notice" premieres).

I've been very pleased with this season of "Army Wives" thus far. I have no idea why, but every other episode causes me to get a bit teary-eyed; although in my defense, killing off Amanda the way they did should make anyone cry. At least a little. Unless you're a robot.

"My Boys" on the other hand, has been a bit underwhelming. The premiere was quite anticlimactic -- were we really supposed to be believe that PJ had a thing for Bobby again?! She moved on (and so did this viewer). Personally, I think those two kids are better off as friends. I'm also not quite sure what to think of the whole Bobby and the hot nanny relationship. Partly because I remember the chick from her guest spot last season on "Chuck" (she was a rival of Sarah's who tried to stir up trouble between the two lovebirds). I think I mentioned it back then as well, does she remind anyone else of an anorexic Cameron from "House?"

I still heart "My Boys," especially anytime the always hilarious Jim Gaffigan (Andy) is in a scene. And Mike's creepily spot-on 'McConaughey' had me rolling. Lastly, what's up with Kenny gettin all the chicks?

"In Plain Sight" has managed to earn a spot on my DVR series recording list. I struggled to make it through the pilot -- I swear that Mary was either taking off or putting on her jacket every five minutes! Thankfully, the show has improved as the season has progressed. It always helps to bring in Dave Foley for a guest spot. A comically-evil Dave Foley. I almost felt bad when he was outsmarted by the marshals in the end. Almost.

I love Mary's partner, Marshall (Marshall the marshal - can you tell I'm easily amused?). If it wasn't for his comedic relief, I probably would've stopped watching after episode two.

What I don't like so much are Mary's mother and sister. They really add nothing to the plot. Can't we just have them go all Thelma & Louise and drive off a cliff together? Would anyone really miss them? It seems to me that Lesley Ann Warren keeps getting typecast. Her floozy, boozy unemployed mom character is pretty much the exact same one she played on "Desperate Housewives." Mary's good-for-nothing sister is equally as annoying. Although I have to say, at least the writers are attempting to humanize her (with the whole taking-care-of-Mary's-kinda-boyfriend bit).

My Boys Season Two Premiere TONIGHT!

2008-06-12T21:17:00.003-04:00

Episode 121: Rome, If You Want To

Countdown to Italy! Only 72 hours left and PJ still hasn’t picked her travel companion. Stephanie’s freaking out (as only Stephanie does).

The guys are helping her review her options: one of the four of them.
•Kenny: has random relatives living in various parts of the Italy.
•Bobby: his family owns a villa in Florence AND he speaks Italian
•Mike: says “everybody over there speaks Italian,” but he’ll be her personal valet. He also promises not be creepy.
•Brendan; says they’re excellent travel companions, citing Costa Rica and six days of beer, surfing, beer, shrimp tacos, and beer.

Andy brings up the point that there are plenty of great sites to visit in their own city that are just as great as traveling abroad (this is obviously the show’s love letter to the city of Chicago). So he plans a field trip/day off for the gang to visit one place they’ve never gone to before.

Next day, PJ awakens from a horrifying dream involving her waking up to half-naked, beer-downing Mike on one side and bouffant-sporting Kenny. Needless to say, she decides she would be much better off going it alone in Italy. Or in reality, playing the third wheel to Steph and her debt counselor/BF Lance.

Then…koinky dink! Old love interests begin popping up left and right:

Option #1: Evan the botanist shows up at Crowley’s. He’s been in Belize and has just returned. He was really digging her and invites her to his parents’ lake house in Michigan (full of mosquitoes and fat people with annoying accents). She tells him she’ll call when she gets back.

Option #2: The Cute Cub. He’s just been traded to the Brewers. SO he can now officially tell her he’s got a huge crush and would love to have dinner (or breakfast..or both!). Again, she promises to call when she gets back.

Option #3: Thorn. Turns out he didn’t get married. He also wants to have dinner with PJ….in Italy! Can you guess what her response was?

The girl still decides to go it alone.

Forgot to mention the events of Andy’s Big Day Off Tour of Chicago. They start with Bobby’s pick - the Art Institute (where only the audience sees that Bobby’s family trust donated an entire exhibit to the museum – man, they really ARE loaded). Next stop, Kenny’s pick: the Sears Tower. He’s afraid of heights, thus he’s never been to the top. He clings to the walls once inside.

Mike: “There’s a full ½ inch of glass between you and splat! on the pavement.”
“That wasn’t very supportive was it?”

Later, Andy shows up as the tour guide on a double-decker bus to show Brendan “something he’s never seen before,” then proceeds to serenade everyone with “Danke Schoen.”

The Plane The Plane!
Steph and Lance are already on board, waiting for PJ. PJ shows up, slightly frantic. She tells them that she took Steph’s advice and called up someone to be her date. He said yes and was supposed to meet her at the airport. The mystery guy still hasn’t shown up. PJ is feeling dejected, having put herself out there only to end up disappointed. But wait! The flight attendant brings some surprising news:

“Penelope Franklin? The gentleman has upgraded your ticket to first class.
You have a glass of champagne waiting for you behind those curtains.”

Stephanie peeps her head to get a view, “Who is it?” Well we’ll find out tonight won’t we?

My Boys Recap: Episode 120

2008-06-12T20:27:00.006-04:00

Episode 120: 110 Percent Solution

Mike thinks getting hit in the head with a baseball is nothing. He who vomited after getting hit in the nuts with a water balloon.

Andy buys a boat. He invites the gang to a boat christening. Problem is, he hasn’t told his wife about it. Oh boy.

He’s feels like a “dull suburban nobody,” so buying the boat was his way to escape.

Andy: “Meredith’s getting the baby, what to I get?”

PJ: “Umm, the baby?”

PJ invites Evan the botanist over for poker night. Bad idea. He doesn’t quite fit in with the guys and their normal game night routine. He looks incredibly awkward shuffling around trying to keep out of the way.

Mike: “So Evan, what do you do?”
Evan: “I’m a botanist.”
Mike: “Really? Huh.”

He attempts to tell a funny story, but gets interrupted by Mike and Kenny, which then turns into one of their stories about doing a ‘bit’ at a restaurant where one of them was fake-choking, while the other was actually choking.

Evan splits after one round and doesn’t call PJ for a few days. She goes to see him and he tells her he’s swamped with work but will call her in a few weeks when things settle down.

The guys tell PJ that he was just finding a nice way to dump her.

The gang ends up at the batting cage, where they proceed to stand and be pelted with baseballs. Mike tells them to up the speed to 85mph. Smart, real smart.

My Boys recap: Episode 119

2008-06-11T21:15:00.000-04:00

Episode 119: “Estates of Hoffman”

This is the Reader’s Digest version of a recap (mostly because I’m just too lazy to write a full one!)

Andy’s growing fond of life in suburbia.

He invites the gang to a housewarming BBQ.

Stephanie calls shotgun for the car ride via text message. She then proceeds to force the others to listen to Italian language CDs during the drive.

We meet PJ and Andy’s parents! Brendan’s the only one who has met them before (back at Parents’ Day in college) and the only words PJ’s mom has spoken to him? “You need a haircut.”

Fun fact: Eileen (PJ and Andy’s mom) is also Earl and Randy Hickey’s mom!

Andy and Meredith’s house is an almost exact replica of his parents’ house, right down to the miscellaneous kitchen drawer containing: pens, scissors and a deck of cards.

At the BBQ: Kenny, Mike and Brendan vie for the attention of a hot single mom. Kenny and Brando sabotage Mike’s chances by convincing hot mom that he’s an alcoholic.

Kenny tells her that Brando’s a wild party animal. Brando calls him out on sleeping with PJ’s aunt. End of game boys! She’s only interested in…Bobby!

Speaking of whom…. it takes Bobby almost the duration of the episode to find the house on his own. Wouldn’t it have been easier (and logical) to, oh I don’t know, CALL ANDY for directions?! You know what they say about men and asking for directions.

There’s also a doppelganger or as Kenny calls him, a ‘Bobbelganger’ hanging around the party. If I can suggest one tiny nugget of advice for Kyle Howard (who plays Bobby), never sport a beard! It is NOT a good look for you buddy. Unless you’re playing a creepy pedophile in a made-for-tv movie.

PJ meets Evan the botanist who’s a city dweller-turned-suburbanite. And not to mention, easy on the eyes. He calls PJ near the end of the episode to ask her out.

The funniest exchange of the episode is between PJ’s mom Eileen and Brendan.

Eileen: “Oh, I see you finally got that haircut.”
Brando: “Yeah I did, what do you think?”
Eileen: “Looked better long.”

The End is Here: Men in Trees

2008-06-11T19:36:00.004-04:00

Such a shame that we must part ways with our favorite fictional town of Elmo, Alaska and all of its quirky citizens. We knew it was coming, but it's hard to believe it's already time.

I'll miss 'Coach' Marin and Jack's weekly dramas.

I'll really miss Patrick and Annie and all their perky cutesyness. At least Patrick finally got his memory back (even if took getting his hand stuck in the condom machine). Here's hoping for a happy ending for the lovebirds. Although, I was warming up to hottie Ivan (can I get an yowza! for that towel scene last week?).

I'll miss Jerome's one-liners, Buzz and Mai's squabbling, Chief Celia's sad machine, and the Chieftain.

I'll miss adorable Sam and Jane and all their opposites-attract/screwball comedy antics.

And I know I speak for all the female viewers when I say, I'll REALLY miss Cash! No explanation necessary :)

Here's the official description of the series finale (Source: TitanTV):
Elmo prepares for its first annual talent show; Marin gets an advance check, but conflict arises when she wants to buy Jack something expensive; Sara fantasizes about men other than Eric; Patrick tries to reignite is romance with Annie.

Mini Project: Gearing Up for the 'My Boys' premiere

2008-06-10T20:32:00.003-04:00

My Boys returns this Thursday! Can I get a woohoo? So to prepare, I'm re-watching the last four episodes of season one and giving you a quick recap.

Let's start with Episode 118: "Douchebag in the City" (I wonder exactly how many times some variation of the word douchebag was uttered in this ep? It made for some damn funny times!)

Brendan starts hanging out with Hams (Ryan Reynolds) and picks up on his annoying habits: name-dropping, screening calls and oddly abbreviating his words (“Whatev,” “Do me a solid and cover my Cs and Vods”). I'm with Bobby when he says it really 'annoy.'

PJ’s old college pal Lyssa visits from NYC with irritating gal-pals in tow. Poking fun at Sex and the City, these girls are caricatures more than anything. Lyssa is Carrie (complete with tutu and slo-mo car water-splashing like the opening SATC sequence); there’s also a bitchy redhead (Miranda), an uppity rich girl (Charlotte), and Veronica, a terrible Samantha impersonator (clad in leopard print and full of sex-related puns).

Everyone ends up at the newest hotspot in town, Lab Rat, where there are bikini girls walking around in huge gerbil balls. Yeah, gerbil balls. The guys, after having zero luck with the faux-SATC gals, are looking for the quickest exit. Mike calls Brando (who’s in the middle of flirting with Lyssa) so they can bail and what happens? Brando screens his call. Ooh the nerve! This all leads to...the Douchebag Intervention.

The guys all take turns reading letters expressing just how ‘douchey’ they think Brendan is.

My faves

Kenny: “Dear Brendan, Since you got name to that Sexy Chicago list thing, you’ve been kind of douche. When you tried to get me to buy the new Fergie album, it made me feel so lonely. P.S. I don’t understand your girl jeans.”

Mike: “You’re a really big douchebag. If you were a superhero, you’d be Captain Douchebag.”

Luckily, PJ slaps some sense into Brendan by pointing out how ridiculous he looks, especially his big obnoxious belt. Douchebag gone!

Summer Summer Summertime

2008-06-08T16:39:00.005-04:00

The summer of '08 TV season has been adversely affected by, let's all say it together now: the writer's strike. Now we'll have to wait just a bit longer for shows like Entourage and Big Love, which will premiere their new seasons in September (right around the same time as the networks premiere their shows, grrreat).
UPDATE: Big Love won't return until January

There are still a handful of awesome shows to keep us entertained for the next three long months. And things kick-off tonight with the return of Army Wives. When we last left Denise, Roxy, Claudia Joy, and Roland, they were all trapped inside the Hump Bar with annoying Marilyn's crazy-cause-he's-just-been-jilted husband (who arrived just in time to find her leaving with her new man) and the bomb strapped to his chest. And Claudia Joy's daughter Amanda decided to run in just in time for everything to go...white. I'm guessing that the gals (and Roland) should be OK, I doubt they'd really kill off one of the main characters. But of course, someone ends up dead, given that previews have shown them all attending a funeral.

My Boys is FINALLY back this Thursday at 9:30! I've been impatiently waiting to find out which guy PJ chose to take to Italy with her. Our girl had quite the selection of suitors, so which lucky guy got on the plane?

Having recently discovered that I have TBS On-Demand (woo!), over the next few days leading up to the premiere, I'll be recapping the last four episodes of season one. If any of you haven't had the chance to catch this endearingly funny show, now's the time! And there are more than enough options: the Complete First Season DVD is available in stores on Tuesday OR you can watch the eps online at TBS.com.

The other two shows that are definitely worth your time, Burn Notice and Psych, return on July 10th and July 18th respectively.

I have the pilot of In Plain Sight on my DVR, but haven't quite been able to persuade myself to watch it yet. The promos semi-piqued my interest and I'm sure I'll enjoy it as I do USA Network's other series. I'll try and get to it this week and post my review as well.

My Two Cents: Season Finale Thoughts

2008-06-02T22:51:00.003-04:00

Here now, some semi-short thoughts on the last two week's worth of finales:

Ugly Betty: Hated the 'Daniel has a long-lost son' storyline, hopefully the writers will find a way out of that one. Loved having Wilhemina and Marc back at Mode (I really missed Marc and Amanda time - please give them more scenes next season!).
Annoyed that it took three episodes to get a shirtless Eddie Cibrian scene :)

Now, that ending. Oy I tell ya. Completely predictable that they would leave us hanging. My theory? Betty didn't choose either guy. I think she went on vacation by herself (maybe to visit her relatives in Mexico for some "soul searching").

My wish for next season: Let's bring back the funny! 'Betty' has been getting too weighed down with all the drama drama drama. I mean, a little dabble here and there is fine, but it's been downright depressing this season.

House: The two-parter finale was TRIPPY. Seriously. Fine acting on the part of Hugh Laurie (as always), Robert Sean Leonard and Anne Dudek. I mean the final scenes between Wilson and Amber made me all weepy. Especially that look on Amber's face when she realized she was dying. Ugh. And now, House and Wilson's relationship is fractured. I'm glad that when they decided to mix things up on the show this season, they really went all out.

Completely random: Fred Durst? Really? I almost wouldn't have recognized him had I not seen his name in the guest star credits. Totally odd.

Completely hilarious: Cuddy's pole-dancing/stripping for House. Ha! Maybe Mr. Crankypants will finally act on his love/hate.

My wish for next season: More Chase and Cameron please! While I like the newbies, I sort of miss the original crew...and Chase is nice eye candy for us ladies. :)

Read on for thoughts on Grey's (Lost deserves its own separate post; I think I'm still trying to digest and comprehend everything that happened)
Grey's Anatomy: The kid encased in cement - WTF?! Not only was it baffling for the viewing audience, but for the docs as well. They spent quite a bit of time freaking out and then debating over the best course of action. Thankfully they were able to save the guy thanks to Christina's bold surgical moves. She finally proved herself to Hahn.

My favorite storyline in this episode was Alex's. In one of the Grey's podcasts leading up to the finale, Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers commented that we had yet to see the personal side of Alex Karev (other than his sex life). I took that as a hint that we'd finally get some backstory on him, and we did! He went through a terrible ordeal of taking care of his mother when he was a teen and was now doing the same for Ava/Rebecca. This was arguably Justin Chambers's best episode so far. We finally saw some depth and raw emotion in Alex and I really hope this develops further next season.

Shonda also teased a 'major' kiss. From everything I read, she was referring to Mer/Der, but I thought the others deserved some discussion as well. The Chief and Adele are FINALLY back together. It's about damn time! Those two are really sweet together and deserve some happiness. Callie and Hahn = I don't quite know what to think yet; I'm curious to see where the writers will take their storyline.

The Alex and Izzie one got my attention. I've always rooted for those two to get back together. I don't know if that's going to happen. However, I was proud of Izzie for actually being selfless for an entire episode. She was genuinely worried about her friend, but at the same time was able to step up as a doctor and make rational decisions (unlike the unnecessary tests she put Cheech Marin's character through, only to find out all he had was the flu).

As for Mer and Der, her candle-outlined house plan was probably her grandest romantic gesture, which is a nice change of pace. As Ms. Grey said herself, she's "whole and healed" now and finally ready for McDreamy. And their McHouse on the big McLand. Ok so I added all the Mc parts, but you know what I'm getting at!

I couldn't help but wonder...

2008-06-02T22:39:00.002-04:00

...if "Sex and the City: The Movie" would live up to my expectations. The final verdict? It was FABULOUS! For die-hard fans of the show, I think it was well worth the wait. For the uninitiated, this is probably NOT the flick for you.

On opening night, a group of girlfriends and I had dinner & Cosmos (of course) and watched the movie with a theater full of girly-girls like ourselves. Under normal circumstances, I hate being in a crowded theater. But for this particular movie, I wouldn't have had it any other way. Moviegoers sharing collective oohs and aahs, cheers and giggles, squeals and gasps, and of course tears. If you loved the show, well you don't need me to tell you go see it.

SATC has been the main reason I've been behind on watching all the TV season finales. For the last two months, I've been watching the entire SATC series on DVD, so forgive me for the delay in posting finale thoughts on the rest of my shows. I'll get to that in just a few minutes here. And there's lots to discuss!

Zack Addy Kinda Sorta Broke My Heart (And Other Thoughts on Monday's Finales)

2008-05-21T19:21:00.005-04:00

I knew something fishy was going on when I peeped the FOX press release for the next season of Bones. Eric Millegan's name was suspiciously missing from the cast list. I had read the spoiler that he would be injured in the lab, but I was thinking he'd either be put out of commission or well, die. It was totally heartbreaking to learn that little Zack was the apprentice to Gormogon (or Gorgonzola as Booth likes to call him). The confession scene between he and Dr. Brennan was intense and quite emotional.

I don't know why the writers decided to head in this direction, maybe they just wanted to shake things up a bit? Kind of similar to the cast upheaval on House this season. Well, at least we have Sweets, who may have come off as suspicious at times, but I kinda dig him.

Zack "King of the Lab" Addy - ye (and your hidden singing talent) shall be missed!

Moving on...

Blair Waldorf was finally able to bring down troublemaker/psycho Georgina Sparks:

"Haven't you heard? I'm the crazy bitch around here."

Yes you are B, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Elsewhere on the tube - Ted and Barney finally made up on How I Met Your Mother. Thank goodness, because seeing them together only in flashback form was getting annoying. Now, if they would just hurry up and get on to this 'Mother'-revealing business.....

I haven't had a chance to watch the House finale yet. I had planned on watching it live, HOWEVER, I realized at the last minute that I completely spaced and still hadn't watched the previous week's ep yet.

Cross your fingers - Marissa may post her thoughts on that here shortly. She proclaimed the last two House episodes as "the best television I've seen all season."

Let's Assess: Upfront Week & Season Finales

2008-05-18T20:02:00.002-04:00

Ahh Upfront Week. Best described as the NFL Draft for TV geeks. This is time when we find out which new faces we'll be welcoming in the fall, which shows are returning and which shows have gone to the cancellation graveyard.

Luckily, a number of my favorite on-the-bubble shows managed to survive unscathed (Supernatural, Reaper, How I Met Your Mother, etc). My favorite network - ABC - managed to make me deliriously happy and furious at the same time (more on that in just a bit).

This fall and midseason we get brand spankin new shows from mad geniuses Joss Whedon (Dollhouse) and JJ Abrams (Fringe).

Monday nights and Thursday nights remain jam-packed. Apologies in advance to my poor DVR. Thank god I'm upgrading to a 100 hr recorder.

Visit the futoncritic.com for a comprehensive guide to the new fall schedule.

This coming week, we'll be bidding adieu to more of our favorite shows as they wrap us this odd, strike-affected season. My two favorite moments this week involved semi-bad (but completely entertaining) karaoke: Dean and Sam rocking out with a Bon Jovi sing-along on Supernatural -

"Bon Jovi rocks . . . sometimes." - umm correction boys, Bon Jovi totally rocks and I'm not ashamed to admit it!

and Brennan belting out "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" on Bones. Now if only that whole Booth getting shot by a psycho-stalker didn't ruin the moment.

Now, onto my love/hate towards ABC:

Reasons to love ABC:
- They came to the rescue of Scrubs! After years of promotional neglect from NBC, Scrubs gets a new home. Hopefully our friends at Sacred Heart will be treated right this time around.

- They gave Eli Stone a second chance:
~ The show improved every week; I’m actually a bit surprised that ABC showed all 13 episodes, someone over there really loves the show. Thank goodness that person appears to have some power over scheduling. Eli’s 2nd season will get a nice lead-in from Dancing with the Stars.
~ Why do I totally dig this show? It’s got heart. And Spy Daddy singing on a semi-regular basis. And they managed to win me over with a Veronica Mars shout-out. What’s not to love?

Reason (yes, that's singular) to hate ABC:
- They cancelled Men in Trees. Well what did they expect after moving it around 5123456 times? They could have at least kept it on Wednesdays @ 10, but noooo they decided to bring back a now-cancelled show (Women’s Murder Club) and shove Boston Legal into the MIT spot. Does that make any sense??

Grey's: Addison as the Voice of Reason?

2008-05-04T10:34:00.006-04:00

Addison dropped in to talk some sense into the Seattle Grace denizens.

The results of her visit:

- Potentially causing Mer and Der to re-evaluate things? Is Addy's 'pep' talk with Meredith going to be the catalyst for their re-coupling?
- Izzie getting her medical groove back, maybe some respect from her interns?
- Callie now insecure about her friendship with Hahn, which led to:

The Funniest Exchange of the Night

Callie: "Anyone ever think you two are a couple?"

Meredith: "No, because we screw boys like whores on tequila."

Christina: "And we either try to marry them or drown ourselves."

Other happenings in the episode...

Christina's been following Hahn around like a needy puppy seeking attention and approval. Hahn not-so-nicely helped her snap out of it.

Izzie was jealous of George and his new intern buddies. How very high school. Yawn.

Ava/Rebecca was back to give Alex some news: Surprise! She's preggers! He doesn't take to it well...or at least not until after helping to save the baby with the outer-body heart. That's all fine and dandy, except she's NOT ACTUALLY PREGNANT!
Izzie knows the truth, how long will it take for the rest of the gang to find out? And what exactly is Rebecca up to?

And my other favorite moment? McDreamy and all his women [past, present, and future (as promised by Shonda Rhimes, Meredith and Derek will reunite)] in the elevator. And of course McSteamy's response to it all :)

My Hawaiian name is Kinipela

2008-04-20T12:09:00.005-04:00

Caught "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" last night. Overall, a riotous good time. Although there is full frontal male nudity in this one (which is a nice change for us female-moviegoers), it's a tad bit less raunchy than the other Apatow flicks (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up).

And hey, you can't go wrong with Veronica Mars and Kenneth the Page in it can ya?

After you see it, check out this fun link ; the post title will make a lot more sense.

Dollhouse: The Next Big Buzz Show?

2008-04-17T18:35:00.002-04:00

Fans of "Angel" rejoice! Amy Acker (aka Fred) is joining "Dollhouse," uber-genius Joss Whedon's pilot for FOX. Check it.

You can't go wrong with Eliza Dushku as the ass-kicking star. Here's the breakdown on the plot:

"Dollhouse" revolves around Echo, a young woman who is one of a group of men and women called "Actives" who can be imprinted with personality packages and be whomever paying customers want them to be. Their assignments can be romantic, adventurous, outlandish, uplifting, sexual and/or very illegal. When not imprinted with a personality package, Echo and the others are basically mind-wiped, living like children in a futuristic dorm/lab dubbed the Dollhouse, with no memory of their assignments—or of much else.

The show revolves around Echo's burgeoning self-awareness, and her desire to know who she was before, a desire that begins to seep into her various imprinted personalities and puts her in danger both in the field and in the closely monitored confines of the Dollhouse." Source: SyFy Portal

I'm Not Drinking the Kool-Aid

2008-03-09T16:37:00.006-04:00

As I type this, I'm sure my self-imposed reality show ban will cease sooner rather than later.

Like many others during the writer's strike, I changed my TV-viewing habits. Over the last two months, it's been increasingly easier to just simply, not turn on the TV (save for the midseason shows I normally watch). While the networks piled on the reality shows, my interest in watching live TV waned.

I have yet to watch more than 15-30 seconds of American Idol. I have yet to get sucked into the ear-splitting, mind-numbing AI madness. And for that I am proud. Marissa doesn't think I'll last too much longer. She's been teasing me by sending my YouTube clips.

The top 12 round is normally the point at which I would start tuning it. The interest just isn't there for me this time around. Check back with me when they whittle the pack down to two.

As I've said before, I tend to have a weakness for the CelebReality shows on VH1. But nope, not this time around either. No Flavor of Love #345698. No Celeb Rehab. Nothing. HOWEVER, maybe when New York's new show premieres.....

I will however, concede my one reality show guilty pleasure - Making the Band. Watching Danity Kane and Day 26 (Side note: couldn't Diddy come up with a name that wasn't so...lame? Oh wait, he's a grown man and wants to be called Diddy. Never mind) mix it up has been entertaining. I also like Donnie - now is it just me or is something kind of, off with his hair? He and Aubrey are a bit Ghetto Ken and Barbie when you put them together.

I am just grateful that we had new episodes of scripted TV during this time. Thank goodness for: Lost (which has been AWESOME), Wildfire, and Supernatural. And I had time to check out new shows like: Eli Stone, Cashmere Mafia, Lipstick Jungle, and The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which I surprisingly liked). And oh yeah, there's still One Tree Hill, which has given me nothing but headaches and a desire to throw things at my very lovely 40-inch HDTV.

I Think I Hate Nip/Tuck

2008-02-23T14:43:00.005-05:00

Six words I never imagined I would say (OK, maybe never is exaggerating a bit).

The finale was a horrendous end to a horrendous season. So why did I continue watching you ask? I'm a glutton for punishment apparently. Part loyalty, part morbid fascination with the extreme lengths to which they will go to shock the audience.

I've been watching from day one - the continuous transformations of Sean, Christian, Julia, Matt, etc. Or in Christian's case, very little development. Just when you think he's cleaned up his act in attempt to redeem himself, he falls right back into his old habits. That whole high-end male gigolo storyline was just, ick.

The one thing I did like about this season was the Christian-Sean role reversal.
Dr. Troy was no longer the hot, go-to doc in town.

Let's recap the completely and utterly annoying happenings in the finale:

- Julia was shot in the face by Eden (why haven't they gotten rid of the little conniving skanky biyotch yet?), who claimed Julia had attempted suicide

- Julia awoke from a coma, only to have retrograde amnesia (How convenient)

- Matt fell for his half-sister (cause really, he doesn't have enough issues as is); then her mother showed up, reconnected with Christian during an alcohol-fueled pity session, and of course, slept with him. A slight positive - it looks like Julian McMahon finally got a tan on his pale behind.

- Pyschotic pseudo-agent Colleen pleaded with Sean to fix her self-inflicted wrist scars. Then she showed up on the set of "Hearts and Scalpels." Sean found the CAA agent/stuffed bear Bob in his closet (ewwwww - did we really need to see that again??). Then predictably, Colleen popped up in the surgery room of McNamara/Troy and stabbed Sean.

All I want to know is, WHAT THE $*#@?

Oh Happy Day!

2008-02-11T20:26:00.000-05:00

The writers strike is thisclose to being ovah!

The good news is most of the shows will be able to squeeze out a few more eps during the spring.

The bad news is the newbie shows won't return til fall. BUT there will be major relaunches for Chuck, Pushing Daisies, etc.

Ausiello has a handy dandy chart predicting the possible # of eps to be produced and return dates.

Not that it wasn't nice to have a little relief from the scheduling overload of the fall tv season, but this little TV addict will be doing the Snoopy dance once fresh episodes are back in full force!

Lipstick Jungle - Jenn's Review

2008-02-01T14:29:00.000-05:00

Please note that the following review was written after viewing the original pilot back in August. A few of the characters have been recast and, from the looks of the previews, some other minor changes made as well.

After viewing this pilot, I was anxious to see "Cashmere Mafia." While many critics are giving the (slight) edge to "Lipstick," I personally enjoy "Cashmere" more. While it's certainly not Emmy-worthy, I find it to be fun and the cast more likable.

However, I will definitely be tuning in on Feb. 7th to see if all the changes made to "Lipstick Jungle" were for the better.

Without further ado, my original review:

The opening gives us two contradictory quotes: one from Rudyard Kipling (“Now this is the law of the jungle as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die”) and the other, Katherine Hepburn (“If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun”). Then cut to multiple shots of animal print-clad high-heeled feet.

We get it. It’s a “jungle” out there. And these women are the ones “ruling” it. Point taken.

“These women aren’t looking for Mr. Big, they are Mr. Big.”

That’s the official tagline from NBC. How true that actually is, well, let’s just say it leaves plenty of room for debate. The main message I got from this pilot was “That’s just the way it is.” That is referring to the misogynistic view of women in the workplace. Well, let me take that back. It’s referring more to women of power in the workplace. We hear all the old clichés – women are “too emotional” and “involved with their work” to ever realistically attain a CEO-level of success.

OK, so if you couldn’t already tell -- too many years spent in college scrutinizing message/meaning in films (especially when it comes to portrayals of women) resulted in my overly-nitpicky analysis of this particular show. I should really take it for what it was meant to be: a hour of frilly, supposed girl-power message-filled fun.

So let’s just look at it from a strictly entertainment point of view.

The Pros:
- Casting did a semi-decent job with the three leads. Kim Raver (Nico) came off as the most believable.

- Cameo alert! Edward Hermann (aka Grandpa Gilmore) graces us with his presence as big CEO boss to both Nico and Wendy.

- Cameo alert part 2! welcome back Andrew McCarthy! Long time no see. He’s a smarmy, egomaniacal billionaire with a thing for lil Miss Victory. Luckily, he’s got some endearing qualities; there may be hope for him yet.

The Cons:
- We’ve seen a lot of these plots/scenarios before: nice gals finish last, women with careers on the rise while personal lives are in shambles (or vice-versa) women can never make as much money as men, blah blah blah.

- The name of Lindsay Price’s character? Victory Ford. Seriously?

- As if they didn’t think we got the message before (say, from the opening scene), Joe Bennett lets Victory know why it’s a rarity that women are billionaires unless they’re spoiled heiresses (“too emotional to make the right decisions,” etc). The delivery seemed slightly forced (maybe because even he couldn’t believe what he was saying)

The Verdict: Give it a few episodes before making a final decision (but really, with the limited choices we have these days, it might fill the guilty-pleasure quota)
Personally, the longer Andrew McCarthy sticks around, the more inclined I might be to watch.

New TV Tonight!

2008-01-24T16:16:00.000-05:00

The last pre-strike "Ugly Betty" episode airs tonight @ 8PM. As much as I'll miss the Mode crew, there's something I'll miss a bit more -- the official Ugly Betty podcast with the fabulous duo of Michael Urie and Becki Newton! Three words: Pure comedy gold!

You can either subscribe via iTunes or go here.

What will I do without my weekly dose of the 'blink blink' song and show 'call ins?'

In the new episode "A Thousand Words by Friday," Betty (America Ferrera) is excited about an assignment to interview writer Phil Roth. Unfortunately, this guy isn't Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Philip Roth but some dude who writes books about picking up women. Daniel (Eric Mabius) learns a shocking secret about a new lust interest (Gabrielle Union). Rocker Gene Simmons also guest stars. (Zap2it)

We also get a "Chuck" two-fer at 8 PM and 10 PM (sandwiched in between is, ugh "Celebrity" Apprentice).

I love both of these shows, so while it's nice to have new eps, it's also incredibly depressing that we have no clue how long it will be til we see them again! Frickin strike.

On a more serious note, if you haven't already read this, head over to Michael Ausiello's blog and check out his wonderful post: "Grieving Heath Ledger via Ennis Del Mar"
It had me in tears. Have your hankies ready!

Complete and Utter Shock

2008-01-22T21:49:00.000-05:00

Unbelievable shock is the general feeling at the moment.

Heath Ledger is dead at the young age of 28.

Reports from the media:

NYTimes: Heath Ledger, Actor, Is Found Dead at 28

People: Heath Ledger’s Rep Calls Death ‘Accident’

Our thoughts are with his family and 2 yr. old daughter Matilda.

In Honor of This Week's Premieres...

2008-01-06T12:25:00.001-05:00

"Some people are just born evil. That kid from "The Omen."
The Children of the Corn. Chad Michael Murray."

- Gus (Psych)

Ditto Burton Guster, you wise sage.

The oft-ignored bastard child of my TV roster, One Tree Hill, returns with a two-hour premiere on Tuesday. The "kids" have flashed forward four years, which might make things slightly more believable - No more 28 year olds trying to pass for 18. Then again, they've cast K-Fed as a rock star.

Moving on...

A show I've never been ashamed to admit to watching, Psych returns on Friday with its second season winter premiere. Anyone else giddy to see the "Big Adventures of Little Shawn and Gus?" Check out these cute bios for the little tykes. Apparently little Shawn is repelled by broccoli and Molly Ringwald, but shares Gus' love of Mr. T.

This week also brings the beginning of the end of fresh new episodes. Desperate Housewives concludes the tornado disaster storyline tonight, followed by the series premiere of Cashmere Mafia. Read on for the rest of the week's schedule and deets.

SUNDAY 1.07
9 PM (ABC) - Desperate Housewives [season finale due to strike]

"Following the tornado, Wisteria Lane residents begin to rebuild their lives, but with Mrs. McCluskey's house completely destroyed, Lynette faces the possibility that her family and Ida Greenberg didn't survive. Meanwhile, Katherine finds out that someone knows the truth about her mysterious past."

10:01 PM - Cashmere Mafia (ABC) [series premiere]- from "Sex and the City" creator Darren Starr

"Four ambitious, sexy female friends in Manhattan share the ups and downs of their careers and personal lives in a girls-club setting. First up: Mia (Lucy Liu) and her fiancé vie for the same promotion; Caitlin (Bonnie Somerville) falls in love; and Juliet (Miranda Otto) decides to avenge her husband's indiscretions."

TUESDAY 1.08
8 PM - One Tree Hill (The CW) [season premiere]

"As the fifth season opens, the series flashes forward four years to postcollege life. While most of the gang struggle to find their footing in the working world, now-famous fashion designer Brooke faces the challenges success brings her in New York City."

9 PM - One Tree Hill

"Skills and Lucas enter Jamie in a soap-box derby and begin coaching the Ravens. Meanwhile, Haley encounters difficulties on her first day as a teacher and interviews potential nannies for her son."

WEDNESDAY 1.09
9 PM - Gossip Girl (The CW) [season finale due to strike, grrr]

In "A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate," Serena is seen purchasing a pregnancy test, and this info gets reported on Gossip Girl's Web site before the facts are all checked.

10 PM - Cashmere Mafia (ABC) [timeslot premiere]

"After being appointed publisher of the Barnstead Media Group, Mia is ordered to fire her mentor. In romantic matters, Zoe has a new rival for Eric's favor; Kate and Alicia take their relationship to a new level; and Juliet and Davis' counseling hits a snag."

THURSDAY 1.10 - the last Thursday of an almost full slate of new eps :(
8 PM - My Name is Earl (NBC) [season finale]

"When his postprison life offers no home, no job and no money, a bitter Earl renounces karma and regresses to his old bad self. As Randy plans a Christmas-morning intervention, karma comes calling for Earl in the form of Billie (Alyssa Milano) and a car."

8 PM - Ugly Betty (ABC)

"Amanda seeks help from a clairvoyant (Annie Potts) in the search for her father's identity; a visit to the magazine by Justin and his classmates prompts Betty to coax Daniel to change the image of Mode's models; a new twist develops in Wilhelmina's designs on the Meade empire. Rappers Bow Wow and Omarion appear as themselves."

8:30 PM - 30 Rock (NBC) [season finale]

"As Jack wheels and deals with German TV bigwigs to close a huge television project, he also works to keep his long-distance romance with C.C. (Edie Falco) alive and well. Meanwhile, Liz buys into real estate. And here's the buzz on Kenneth: He becomes addicted to caffeinated coffee. Singer Gladys Knight guest stars."

9 PM - Grey's Anatomy (ABC) [season finale] -- can I just vent for a quick sec? I hate ABC's promo dept. If any of you've seen the preview for this ep, the big drama has already been spoiled. I really hate ABC's promo dept.

"While Bailey's family faces a medical trauma, the doc faces a marital one. Meanwhile, a surprise visit from George's mother (Debra Monk) comes as a shock to both Izzie and Callie; a faith healer challenges Erica and Alex's beliefs in Western medicine; and Derek must deal with the aftermath of his kiss with Rose (Lauren Stamile)."

10 PM - Big Shots (ABC) [returns w/ the first of three new eps]

"Duncan tries to distract himself from Lisbeth's marriage to Terrence by pursuing a rival company's model; James eyes an opportunity for a proper date with Katie; a stranger (Charisma Carpenter) charms Brody; Cameron discovers shocking news about Zack."

10 PM - ER (NBC)

"Abby returns from rehab and feels judged by her peers. Elsewhere, she treats a young fire victim who may have problems with her eyes, and Harold gets an ego boost after a night with Neela's cousin."

FRIDAY 1.11
10 PM - Psych (USA)

"A woman claiming to be Gus' wife hires Shawn to search for someone. Kerry Washington guest stars."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2008-01-01T17:20:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a fantastic celebration last night to ring in 2008!

While I'm sure we all made some soon-to-be-broken resolutions, maybe we should create a few for the studios and the networks, such as:

- Resolve the damn strike already!

- Stop relying on crappy reality shows to fill your schedules; while it's nice that a few scripted programs were held back to air at midseason, I never asked for "According to Jim." Take it back, take it back!!

- Air reruns of your newbie shows to maintain interest (by the time "Chuck" and "Dirty Sexy Money" come back, we'll need a refresher/recap)

My resolution is to freakin update this blog more!

Not Cool USA Network, NOT Cool

2007-12-19T18:28:00.000-05:00

"The 4400" is kaput.

On a slightly more positive note (well, as positive as you can get during this crazy strike), NBC will re-air eps of USA Network's other shows, as opposed to completely filling their schedule with reality crap.

Here's an official statement from "The 4400" creator, Scott Peters:

To all the wonderful fans of The 4400

It's with great sadness that I pass along to you the information I've just received -- The 4400 has been cancelled. We've had a great time bringing you this story and submersing you in the lives of all these incredible characters. Thank you especially to the folks on the board here whose tireless devotion to the show is nothing short of remarkable.

Shout out to Bubba, by the way! I love your posts, man.

I just spoke to Joel and we had a great talk about what we all accomplished and how much we'll miss our family that is our crew and our cast... and our fans. But at least we got to go out with a bang! I had an awesome time directing the last episode. I think I got to make almost every single cast member cry (on camera). How much fun was that?!

So let me raise my metaphorical glass to you all and thank you for being so loyal and so dedicated. I wish we could go on forever, but the party has come to an end. Be well and on behalf of all of us at The 4400 -- thank you, it's been a pleasure.

Scott Peters
Creator / Executive Producer
The 4400

"Are You Having a Laugh?"

2007-12-16T12:39:00.000-05:00

The brilliantly awkward and hilarious series concludes tonight with an 80-minute Christmas special:

This holiday season: be careful what you wish for. Andy Millman — now the star of a hit, albeit lowbrow, sitcom — discovers success isn't all it seems. Desperate for respect, Millman is about to take drastic measures that will turn his life upside down.

But does Andy have the talent and savvy it takes to get his wish: to be both respected and famous?

Special guest stars: George Michael, Clive Owen (yay!), David Tennant and Gordon Ramsay.

This BBC site has a great recap of the entire series.

Christmas Christmas Time is Heeeere....

2007-12-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

If you need a bit of help getting in the Christmas spirit (like me), here's a little something from my pals Alvin, Simon and Theodore:

Barbara Walters Actually Making Sense?? Whodathunkit?

2007-12-09T18:44:00.000-05:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071207/tv_nm/walters_dc

Ditto Barbara. DITTO.

The Writer's Strike: How It Affects YOUR Shows

2007-11-24T16:44:00.000-05:00

The potentially good news is that the Writer's Guild and the studios will resume negotiation talks on Nov. 26th. Let's hope the studios come to their senses!

In the meantime, here are a few sources to keep track of the # of episodes of your favorite shows that are remaining to air. Among them: The Futon Critic, USAToday, and Ausiello has a handy little Strike Chart.

The following is a night-by-night summary (as of 11/25/07) of what we could gather from the abovementioned sources:

SUNDAYS
Desperate Housewives - 3 remaining, with 2 airing on 11/25 and 12/2 and the third to air sometime in January
Family Guy - 1 ep remaining to air 11/25
Brothers & Sisters - 5 remaining; 2 airing through Dec., the remaining saved for January

MONDAYS
Prison Break - 5 remaining; returns from hiatus on January 14th
Chuck - 4 more; 2 to air this year, 2 saved for next year
How I Met Your Mother - 2 more, finishing on 12/10
Heroes - 2 remaining, concludes on 12/3
Journeyman - possibly 2

TUESDAYS
Bones - 4 remaining; one to air 11/27, with the rest for next year possibly
House - 4 left as well; one airing 11/27, remaining 3 saved for mid-January to early February
Reaper - 2 more; "One Tree Hill" will takeover the timeslot (grrrrr) beginning Jan. 8th; Reaper returns 'sometime' later in the year
Cane - 2 more

WEDNESDAYS
Pushing Daisies - 2 remaining to air 11/28 and 12/12
Private Practice - 2 more, one on 12/5, unsure of airdate for last one
Gossip Girl - 5 more to air 11/28, 12/5, and rest possibly saved for the new year
Dirty Sexy Money - 3 more; 2 to air this year, last one saved for later?
Life - 3 remaining, airing 11/28 and then a two-parter on 12/3 and 12/5

THURSDAYS
Ugly Betty - 4 remaining
My Name is Earl - 3 left; wraps up on 12/13
Smallville - 7 remaining (which from the looks of it, they're saving for '08
Supernatural - 3 to 5 remaining, probably being saved for '08 as well
Scrubs - 7 left
Grey's Anatomy - 2 remaining
Big Shots - possibly 2, couldn't find much info
ER - 5 remaining

FRIDAYS
Men in Trees - 13 remaining (thank goodness!)
Moonlight - not sure

* Note - these are just the shows that the two of us watch. If you don't see one of your shows on this list, please check the links given at the top of the post.

Heroes Chapter 8: "Four Months Ago"

2007-11-13T18:38:00.000-05:00

Call it exhaustion from catching up on the gazillion shows I watch or just sheer laziness, this week’s “Heroes” post will not be a full recap. Instead, I’m just going to rave about everything I loved and rant about the things that annoyed. Luckily, last night’s ep was freakin awesome.

One of the things that I love about this show is that they actually give us answers! We finally found out: how Peter ended up in Ireland with amnesia, how Nathan survived and why he still sees his charred mug in the mirror, how D.L. really died (I’ll gripe about that later), and how the twins discovered their powers.

If you couldn’t already tell, I love lists. Lists and bullet points. Let’s get to the good stuff first:

- Kensei is Adam. Adam is Kensei? I’m still majorly confused about this, can anyone clarify? All I know is, I’m deliriously happy that they’ve integrated the character into the present day storyline. And partnering him with Peter is just icing on top of a man-candy cake.

- Props to the writers for their clever flashback method for this ep: Peter "healing" his head.

- Elle is deliciously evil. I loved that she made Peter her little plaything. She can do her “sadistic lightning thing” as long as she wants and keep those Heroes on their toes! Hey someone’s got to when Sylar disappears to hang with Captain Kirk.

- The Haitian has got some mad skills and it turns out, he’s a decent guy. Working his super power, he made a valiant effort to give Peter a new life. But we all knew that things would catch up with Peter eventually.

- We knew that Maya and Alejandro were on the run for murder, but damn, she offed the entire wedding party. Gotta say, didn’t feel all that bad for Alejandro’s new bride and her ex (who might look familiar to those of you willing to admit you watched “Passions.” Yes, the guilty pleasure supernatural soap opera. He played Miguel. I know I know, how hypocritical of me to rant on and on about how more people should watch quality shows while I myself admit to have watched “Passions.” On more than one occasion....over a number of years. I can’t explain it – the acting was horrible, the special effects lame, and all the incestuous hookups made for a cringe worthy, craptacular hour of afternoon television. And still I watched. Moving on...

The not-so-enjoyable:
- So Niki discovers yet another personality: Gina. Are you kidding me? Really? We're really going there again?!

We find out that D.L. did indeed survive the Kirby Plaza events of the finale. He’s gotten his life together by getting a real job (firefighting) and taking care of his son and supposedly on-her-meds wife. Of course “Gina” hauls ass to L.A. to get her party on. D.L. gets shot again (fatally this time) while trying to rescue his wife. RIP D.L. Sanders. Too bad you had a crackpot for a wife.

Laid Back...I Got My Mind on My Money and My Money on My...

2007-10-31T19:45:00.000-04:00

We apologize for the lack of posts, BUT we're on vacation!! Hells yeah!

When we get back we'll have a LOT of shows to catch up on, but we'll be blogging away once we are.

Season Pick-ups and Other News

2007-10-21T13:43:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, The CW's "Gossip Girl" had the honor of being the first show to receive a full season pick-up. Now "Private Practice" gets a go at it as well. Oh, yeah and some CBS shows we don't watch. Zap2it

Speaking of Practice, looks like Addison will have more man candy coming her way. David Sutcliffe (Christopher on "Gilmore Girls) is joining the cast.

Debra Messing continues her "Starter Wife" adventures.

Get geeked out even more over K.Bell joining "Heroes." Check out this awesome Give Me My Remote feature: Kristen Bell, From PI to Hero (complete with video).

Looks like both "Ugly Betty" and "Desperate Housewives" are killing off some characters.

Hey, Where Have I Seen That Person Before?

2007-10-21T10:59:00.000-04:00

Lots of familiar (but not by name) faces popped up on our screens this week:

Former Superman Dean Cain finally came to "Smallville." Except that he was pretty eeeevil. And immortal.

Lisa Sheridan (Larkin on "Invasion") was the doctor who had a failed lunch date with Dan's brother Jack on "Journeyman." Sheridan also popped up on "Moonlight" a few weeks ago.

Eddie Shin (Lane's almost BF on "Gilmore Girls") put in a hilarious turn as Wilfred Woodruff on "Pushing Daisies." He was the angry great great great great grandson of a Civil War vet whose sword was stolen by Louis Schatz.

Marsha Thomason (Nessa on "Las Vegas") made a brief appearance on "Cane."

Vanessa Lengies (Roxanne on "American Dreams") was Leni, the prosecution witness Mick was hired to find on "Moonlight."

Finally, Erick Avari (Dr. Suresh - Mohinder's dad - on "Heroes") was Harold Templeton the spy who met with Nick George on "Dirty Sexy Money."

Chick Chat: Monday TV

2007-10-17T19:51:00.000-04:00

Ok TV-holics, we're starting a new recurring feature, tentatively titled 'Chick Chat.'

A big reason we started this blog together is, we talk about all the shows with each other anyway, why not bring it to the Web? We'll rant and rave about our favorite shows just as we normally would when discussing them face-to-face.

So, here now we discuss this past Monday night of TV:

Marissa: So did you see Monday night's "Chuck?"
Jenn: Well, duh! It was highly entertaining. I think the show keeps getting better with each episode don't you?
Marissa: Why yes Jenn I do, very entertaining.
I actually enjoy it more when Chuck gets to participate in the missions
Jenn: You know, I think I'm the opposite - I like getting to see the non-spy stuff, like the Nerd Herd and his BFF Morgan
and of course, Captain Awesome
Marissa: Well I like the stuff with the family: like the eating pizza and playing 'how well do we know each other,' but the spy stuff is really fun and usually Adam Baldwin looks pretty good doing it too!
Jenn: I think Chuck and Sarah have a nice chemistry
Marissa: Yeah I like Carina's comments that Sarah likes Chuck a lot even if she doen't know it yet!
Jenn: Speaking of Carina - is it just me or does she kind of look like an anorexic and bitchier Cameron from House?
Marissa: hmmm yeah a lil I guess
Jenn: I'm glad they didn't drag out Chuck finding out about Sarah and Bryce
Marissa: Yeah it seems like a trend this season. Things might be held in for a few eps but the secrets are coming out much faster. On all the shows I mean of course
Jenn: Have you heard that Bryce isn't all that...dead? And word is, he'll be popping up before the season ends?
Marissa: I thought that might happen, seemed to easy for him to be just.... Dead!
Nobody is ever just dead
Jenn: on spy shows.Or Heroes. Or Lost or ANY soap opera.

Jenn: Moving on....wasn't "How I Met Your Mother" hi---wait for it---larious?!
Marissa: yeah I love the way that show works! Barney... will stop at NOTHING to win.
Poor Marshall though, you know he's happy with Lily and dosn't regret anything, but there is that tiny lil bit of him that still wants to get out there and "Play" with the boys.
Jenn: "Are you a model?" Poor guy has zero game.
Back to Barney - all that work and it backfired on him ha!
Marissa: Of course it did! It always backfires on him
I love that Robin got broken up with by a kid
Jenn: Yes! Everything that involved Robin and kids was hysterical
My favorite line of the night was Marshall asking: "So now that you're a mommy, are you gonna wear those totally awesome jeans that come up to your boobs?"
Marissa: hahaha yeah that was funny
Jenn: I also laughed at the bite-sized Barneys and Teds
Marissa: That was very clever of them. The Barneys were the best, also kind of creeeeeepy
Jenn: those mini voices :)
You know what else?
Patch up!
Marissa: hahaha
Seriously

Jenn: I know I already covered it in my recap, but how did you like this week's "Heroes?"
Marissa: I really liked it.I didn't think it was slow at all
Jenn: What were your favorite parts of the ep?
Marissa: Oh gosh um all the stuff with Claire and the flying boy.
Did u see the sign in Molly's eyes?
Jenn: Ooh no, what was it?
Marissa: Kensei's symbol.
Jenn: I completely missed that. Good eye!
Marissa: Yeah I had to rewind a couple of times just to make sure, but it was like right before a commercial break
Jenn: Of course, you know what I'm really excited for is next week.
Marissa: Hellz yeah!
Jenn: V. Mars in the house! Can I get a woo?
Marissa: WOO!!

[Heroes Recap] Chapter 4: "The Kindness of Strangers"

2007-10-16T19:47:00.000-04:00

Last night’s ep was a bit light on the action, save for a teensy little murder. No shirtless Peter Petrelli either. Bummer. My thought is that it was the calm before the storm. A storm named KRISTEN BELL!

In the five long months since Veronica’s untimely cancellation, we have been dying to see our gal V. Mars back on the screen. Can we all just take a moment to thank the NBC promo department for pimpin her debut? Hells yeah!

Now, back to the task at hand - Chapter 4: The Kindness of Strangers.” We met a newbie Hero, the twins met a baddie (but they don’t know it yet), and a surprising connection to Parkman is revealed.

Location: Somewhere in Mexico
This storyline finally gets some juice! On the run with Stoner Dude (actual name Derek, not all that important), Maya and Alejandro find a man’s body lying in the middle of the road. Guess who? Sylar! How did he navigate his way out of the jungle? According to him, he walked for three days. The three escapees unwisely offer a ride to ‘Gabriel Gray.’ Does he have amnesia? Obviously not, since he ends up knocking off Stoner Dude when he finds out about the twins’ special powers. He offers to take them to Dr. Suresh. And we get the signature evil Sylar smirk. Buckle up kiddies, you’re in for a hell of a ride!

Location: Bennet House, Cali
HRG, nervous about the painting predicting his demise, grills Claire about any new boys in her life. She lies, he lectures. Later at school, cheerleading beckons. One of the squad girls pushes forms for tryouts on her, tells her they liked her standing up to head bitch cheerleader. Claire tries to decline (You know she can’t stay away for too long). Flyboy West swoops in (not literally) and begins to pester. She tells him she can’t hang with him anymore. That lasts all of two seconds, because later we find her making up some BS story to her parents about heading to the library that night.

As soon as she heads out the door, HRG secretly follows. As she turns a corner, flyboy picks her up and away they go. HRG doesn’t see.

Just where do the budding lovebirds end up? Why on top of the Hollywood sign of course! (ugh) And what purpose will this serve? Well obviously so they can play the whole “I jump off the sign, you fly and catch me so I know I can trust you” game.

Flyboy tells her she’s just going to have to come up a more credible lie in order to hang with him (an idiot could come up w/ something less lame than ‘going to the library’). And this is where cheerleading comes in.

At home, HRG tries to pry info from Claire about West. She decides it the ideal time to spring the cheerleading bit on him. Does it work? Hell yeah it does. Damn you’re more gullible than we thought HRG.

Location: Washington, D.C.
A super-beardy Nathan sneaks a visit with his two sons at school.

Location: NY
Little Molly Walker’s nightmares are getting worse. Matt and Mohinder worry.

Later, Detective Matt is at the hospital interrogating Angela Petrelli, who confesses to Kaito Nakamura’s murder. It was determined that the attack on her in the police station was self-inflicted (riiight). Through Matt’s mind reading ability, she tells him to back off and let her take the fall. She wants him to drop the investigation because it will only bring more trouble for them and all the Heroes.

Nathan arrives, completely clean shaven (damn, that was quick). Matt enlists Nathan’s help with the investigation.

Later, Matt reveals that his wife cheated on him and that baby she was preggers with? Not his! Yikes. He and Nathan are searching for a pic of the group of 12 – what they find are the usual suspects: Mr. and Mrs. Petrelli, Linderman, Kaito Nakamura, Bob from The Company (Nathan: this guy’s name is Bob, don’t know his last name”), and drumroll please…..Matt’s father!! Ooh looks like Parkman’s a bigger part of it than he thought.

He asks Molly to locate his father. When he shows her the group pic, she freaks and tells him: “That’s the bad man in my dreams. He is the nightmare man!” Uh oh.

Finally, Molly agrees to help. She sees: Philadelphia, an apartment, number 9, and then aaahhhhhh! “He sees me! Leave me alone!” And she goes into shock. Only Matt can hear her cry for help.

Location: New Orleans, LA
Micah’s adjusting to living with his grandmother and cousins Damon and Monica Dawson. Damon’s obnoxious; Monica’s the breadwinner (who’s forced to work at the horrendously named Burger Bonanza).

Monica begins to develop a power. While at work, she cuts a tomato rose (without realizing it) precisely like the one shown on her TV that morning. Later, while attempting to lock up shop, a robber forces his way in. Next thing you know, Monica’s busting out the same WWE-style move she saw the previous night on TV.

So what exactly is this power she has? Any ideas? She’s able to perfectly mimic something she sees. Now, I wonder if this has to be something televised? And to think, our parents always said we could never learn anything valuable from TV.

Did I mention that Kristen Bell joins the cast next week?

Do You Still Have Love for 'New York?'

2007-10-14T16:15:00.000-04:00

She's baaaack. New York is looking for more men to degrade, insult, and get her freak on with. And I'm totally going to watch. Why? Cause this chick is nuts and so are these guys. Pure, trashy entertainment!

And boy, are these guys "winners." There's Mr. Wise aka K-Fed 2.0, self-explanatory Ears, Wolf, Tailor Made, and Midget Mac (seriously).

Since the show will likely run 10 times during the week, I'll probably try and catch it on the weekend. Looking forward to this season and all of New York's trashy shenanigans!

Sylar's Back! Heroes Ep. 3 RECAP

2007-10-09T18:32:00.000-04:00

I know this show has about 5,498,237 cast members, but geez, did they have to jump around so much? Did anyone else feel like the first half hour was a bit on the spastic side? My favorites were the Hiro/Ando and Sylar bits. Let’s do a Reader’s Digest version of the rest first:

Location: Cork, Ireland

Peter’s got to do a little armored car robbery job in exchange for the strange box with his identity in it. Any theories on its contents?

His mind-reading ability kicks in and he overhears one of the thugs thinking about screwing over the rest. Of course they don’t believe him, but you so know where this is going.

The job goes more than well enough, as ol’ Petey is able to move the whole friggin truck with the wave of his hand, thereby preventing the security guards from chasing after him.
While counting the loot, thug dude decides to pull a gun on the rest, Peter works his magic to scare the dude away, ‘told you so,’ etc. Also of note: the bullet ejecting itself from Peter's chest? Yuck yuck yuck

All his work earns him….a tattoo? OK! Well, the ink fades shortly, but not before turning into the Mysterious Symbol. Hmmmmm……

Unintentionally(?) funny: “Lightning! Lightning! Sparks!” (How about “Give me a clue, damn it!) He’s not sure how his powers work, so apparently he thinks yelling out an order will do the trick. Ahem, that only works if you’re a wizard and you’ve got a wand. And if your name is Harry Potter.

Location: Somewhere in Mexico
Zzzzzzzz…will someone wake me up when these two finally get an interesting story? All you need to know is: Alejandro is the world’s worst car-stealer, he gets arrested and thrown into jail (complete with stoner American dude in the next cell), Maya’s gotta do her black tar coming out of her eyes thing to get him out, stoner dude says he got a car, and off the trio go.

Location: Las Vegas
Probably the worst kept secret, D.L. is dunzo. Finito. Dead. You gotta feel bad for poor little Micah. D.L. was a hell of a lot more sane and stable than Nikki, who decides to drop Micah off with D.L.’s family in New Orleans. We’ll be meeting another new cast addition next week – his cousin played by Dana Davis (last seen on “The Nine”).

Location: Costa Verde, CA
Claire is a horrible liar – trying to pass off her toe cutting incident as “nail polish that was knocked over and it just looked like blood.” Stalker flyboy doesn’t buy it, so what does ‘genius’ decide to do? Practically out her to the bio teacher and the class. Nice. That’s not exactly going to win you any brownie points buddy.

She has a Kleenex moment with him and finally spills that she’s “different.” To get her to shut up, he grabs her and takes flight. The rest kind of looks like a badly re-created scene out of “Superman.” I was just waiting for Lois Lane to say: “You’ve got me? Who’s got you?!”

They land on a beach. Claire spots a mark on his neck. Then Flyboy confesses that some crazy stuff happened to him years ago and how he can still picture the face of the person responsible…wait for it….a man who wore….wait for it…horn-rimmed glasses!

Location: NYC
Mohinder arrives at Isaac Mendez’s old apartment to find Bob and crew from The Company. They’ve built a state-of-the-art lab just for him. Which also means, they’ll be watching his every move. But apparently not closely enough, since he’s able to secretly call HRG. Mohinder’s getting nervous about their plans, while HRG reassures him, “I told you, you have no reason to worry, as long as I’m alive you’ll be taken care of.”

WELL, since painting 8 out of 8 depicts his grisly death (with Claire off to the side, apparently making out with someone we assume to be Flyboy), it’s probably time to start worrying.

Onto the more interesting parts of the episode:

A chick on the beach, talking to presumably someone at The Company via cell, says “he’s tired” referring to….Sylar! As NBC reminded us every hour on the hour since last Monday, “The Villain America Loves to Hate,” is back. And boy, are we glad. Someone’s got to keep the Heroes on their toes.

Who’s this strange woman? Her name is Michelle or as we all knew her last season, Candice. With the character being a shape-shifter, NBC was able to reasonably recast with a completely new actress, since old Candice is now over on “Reaper” playing cutesy with Sam.

Michelle/Candice tells Sylar he’s had eight surgeries to correct his “injuries” at Kirby Plaza. It also appears that all those handy-dandy powers he acquired have disappeared. Ooh that makes for one not-so-cheerful Sylar.

The pretty beach scenery disappears and it’s some dingy looking room. Michelle tells him she can make him see anything he wants: London, Paris, Japan, hot blond twins, or another version of himself. Of course, that’s not enough, so he decides to take her power by….you guessed it, eating her brain! Gross!

It doesn’t seem to work out too well for him, as he soon discovers that he’s somewhere in a jungle in the middle of nowhere.

Location: Present day Japan / 1671 Japan
It’s Ando! [On a personal note, it’s awesome that they’re including him in the show again. Now, if Hiro would just hurry up and get back to the present and reunite with his best buddy. But in the meantime, I’ll take what I can get.] Ando is back at Yamagato Industries where he’s getting yelled at by his slightly scary boss. Yeesh, that dude needs his coffee. When the coast is clear, he reaches into a drawer and pulls out the Kensei sword. Hmm…something odd about the end of the sword…the inscription reads: Open Ando!” Clever Hiro has inserted multiple scrolls with messages to his friend. He updates Ando on his struggles to correct history.

Kensei is at first bewildered, thinks that Hiro has cursed him. Hiro has to teleport him to one of his famous battles against the 90 Angry Ronins. Hiro leaves him to wait with Yaeko. With his newfound powers, Kensei is successful and in turn, gets to take all the credit with his future ladylove. Poor Hiro. He’s in love with Yaeko, but he can’t screw up history. He’s ready to leave and return to his time, but now Kensei isn’t quite ready to part with his guide: “Only you can keep my from returning to my heathen ways, you’re like a conscience.” So, he decides to stay, which means more Hiro-Kensei fun for at least a few more episodes :)

Fall TV: Anyone Else Exhausted Yet?

2007-10-07T13:54:00.000-04:00

We here at Tuned In watch more than our fair share of shows (evidence: look to the right sidebar). So far, we've managed to semi-successfully keep up on our viewing. We'll try to cover as much as we possibly can, but bear with us as we figure out the best way to do that! Over the next month, we'll test out a few new features. What we also really want from you, dear readers, is feedback and comments!

Here's a recap of all the new shows we've added to our already-overcrowded schedules:

Already Addicted:
Chuck
Reaper
Pushing Daisies
Gossip Girl
Dirty Sexy Money

Giving it a Shot:
Journeyman
Private Practice
Life
Big Shots

Still on the Fence:
Moonlight
Bionic Woman
K-Ville

Quotes of the Week

2007-10-07T11:39:00.000-04:00

"Yeah, yeah and I wish I got to know Marlon Brando before he got fat."

"Hi, I just made a little person feel better about his day."
- Marc, Ugly Betty

"So, were you being selfish or inappropriate?"
Awww snap! - Mama Burke to Meredith on Grey's Anatomy

"You caught me. I stole the 8 bucks. I was saving to buy you a girlfriend. I assume you're ok with the plastic variety?"

- Andi to Ted, the uptight manager on Reaper

"Oh my god, we're gonna die dressed as condoms! - Ben on Reaper

"You can't be Kal-el. He's a sweet chubby baby who laughs when you tickle his feet."
- Kara, Smallville

And finally, our favorite, the always-quoteworthy, Supernatural returns:
Sam: "Let me see your knife."
Dean: "What for?"
Sam: "So I can gouge my eyes out."
Dean: "It's a beautiful natural act Sam."
Sam: "Part of you I never wanna see Dean!"
Gotta love those Winchester boys!

Casting News Roundup: Dimples, Doctors, and The Beek

2007-10-07T10:55:00.000-04:00

- Eddie Cibrian and his dimples are returning to ABC in not one, but two guest arcs: first up, he'll play ex-husband #3 to Karen Darling on "Dirty Sexy Money." Then he'll romance an amnesiac Christina Applegate on "Samantha Who?"
Kiele Sanchez (buried-alive Nikki on "Lost") will also pop up as a possible love interest for Samantha's current boyfriend.

- Three of the candidates from last week's "House" have been upgraded to regulars: Olivia Wilde (#13), Kal Penn (#6, then #9), and Peter Jacobsen (the plastic surgeon).

- If you've been wondering what happened to The Beek (that's James Van Der Beek aka Dawson from Dawson's Creek), well wonder no more - he's showing up on "Ugly Betty" in episode four, "Grin and Bear It." But that's not all, Victor Garber (Alias' spy-daddy) and John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) also appear as a professor and Henry's co-worker respectively. Source: Ugly Is In

- Steven Weber, late of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," will charm Rachel Griffith's Sarah Walker on "Brothers & Sisters", which doesn't bode well for that reconcilation with her hubby. Ausiello Report

Dancing With The Stars: RESULTS!

2007-10-06T20:25:00.000-04:00

I wanted to start off this results recap by giving our condolences to Jane Seymour, after the loss of her mother. The reason why Jane chose to be on DWTS was for her. She was in England this past Tuesday, but Tom announced she has decided to come back and continue participating in the competition.

Tuesday’s elimination came as quite a big surprise to me and a very stunned studio audience. It came down to Wayne and Albert and Albert Reed was the second to go, both he and partner looked on in shock as Tom said their name.

There were some incredibly funny parts, Jimmy came back with Guillermo, who “broke” his arm and can’t dance this season. The Count from Sesame Street, yes that’s right, the Count from Sesame Street is the man who counts the votes.

Stayed tuned in.... seriously things are just heating up!

Scissors, Meet My Pinky Toe: "Heroes" RECAP

2007-10-04T00:26:00.000-04:00

Location: Wandering Rocks Pub, Cork, Ireland
Peter’s out of the storage unit and tied to a chair. And still shirtless. And getting water splashed all over him. And did I mention shirtless? Where was I? Oh right, so the three thuggish Irish dudes that found him are now attempting to beat information out of him. Hello, he’s got amnesia; you’re really not going to get anything relevant out of him.

Kaitlin, sister of head thug dude comes in to clean the blood off of Peter’s face. They start to talk about the previous night and the weird blue sparks that knocked back one of the guys. Peter thinks it came from his hands. Kaitlin then notices that all the wounds and bruises she’s been cleaning off have somehow miraculously disappeared.
Location: Costa Verde, CA
Mrs. Bennett accidentally drops her ring into a pot of boiling water. Apparently bored, Claire reaches in with her bare hand to retrieve. Red, scalded hand, yadda yadda, heals itself, blah. Next! She begins to whine about how ‘laying low’ is really cramping her style. Mr. Bennett/HRG/Noah reiterates that she needs to attract as little attention to herself as possible if she wants to be safe.

Mrs. B shows HRG the latest newspaper: “Yamagato CEO Dead at Age 70.”
“How’d you know this was gonna happen? – well, HRG’s got a painting of Isaac Mendez’s. This painting predicted Mr. Nakamura’s deathly fall and is just one in a series of eight. His new mission is to locate the remaining seven. Who gave him the first one?

Bio class: the lecture is all about lizards and their abilities of cell regeneration. Claire, being the oh-so-subtle gal she is, asks about the possibility of human body part regeneration. Teacher gives her a look of semi-amusement and then imparts this little comment: “We don’t even need a pinky toe for balance, it’s all just junk in our DNA.” Oh you know someone is going to take that as advice.

Stalker boy West is intrigued by Claire’s curiosity in class and decides to creep her out some more. Anyone notice the little gang of cheerleaders walking behind and staring oddly at little “nobody” Claire? Hmmm…what are they up to? Ooh look! Claire’s car is gone. Ten bucks says it’s some weird cheerleading hazing/initiation ritual? We all know it won’t be long before Ms. Bennett (or should I say, Ms. Butler?) is back in cheer uniform. And of course, there are already pictures from upcoming episodes all over the Internet.

Location: Deveaux Rooftop, New York
Parkman’s at the scene of the Nakamura murder. He questions Ando about the marked picture of Kaito. Ando says the symbol is the crest of Takezo Kensei. It also means both “god send” and “great ability.”

Angela Petrelli’s fingerprints were found on the photo.

Location: Otsu, Japan, 1671
Hiro: “Have you seen the scary white man?” Well I don’t know if I’d call him scary. Drunk, yes. Scary? Not so much.

It’s up to Hiro to get the dude sober enough to save Yaeko, the woman he’s supposed to fall in love with according to legend.
“You look like a fish when you talk. Like a giant carp.”

Hey, ooh got an idea: Dress up time!

Yaeko is defending herself against a gaggle of sword-wielding men. “Kensei” rides in to save the day. The men laugh, “Why does he keep saying his own name?” Hiro manages to take all of their swords and bows, leaving them to scamper away.

Location: Hartsdale, New York
Mohinder arrives to meet Bob, who gives him his first assignment, track down a man with a virus – one that has left him with weakness, tremors and loss of abilities. Only two other known cases of the virus, one was Mohinder's sister and the other, little Molly Walker. The only cure? Mohinder's blood of course. And where’s he headed? Port-Au-Prince, Haiti – give you one guess as to who this mystery man is.

Location: Coatepeque, Guatemala
Maya and Alejandro arrive a family friend Nidia’s house. She will be helping them to cross the border to Mexico. Another strange guest in the house insists on helping Maya with her ‘illness.’ She’s a healer and forces Maya to let her help. Bad idea, as she sees bad, bad things: “What you carry inside is black. Enough to kill the devil.” Oooh scary. Bored already! They need to move this little story along.

Location: Port-Au-Prince, Haiti
Mohinder goes to the house of….the Haitian! Does anyone know his actual name? Or we could just call him, Most Effective with his Silent Acting? While we’re off topic, since when does Suresh speak French? “Heroes” is certainly working the international flavor Working in Japanese, Spanish and French subtitles all in one ep.

Ok, back to the virus story, the Haitian doesn’t want the cure, thinks it’s all part of God’s plan to take it away from him cause he abused it. Mohinder begs him to let him try and voila! It works. He’s at a desk analyzing the results when next thing you know, it’s clearly hours later and he’s in the exact same position. Bob from the Company is there. Mohinder's short-term memory was wiped and the Haitian is gone.

Back to the PUB
Peter still tied to chair, now concentrating all his energy on breaking free. He’s able to pass his hands right through the rope. He’s ready to escape through the window when, he hears commotion out in the pub. Kaitlin’s being roughed up by two tough hooligans. Peter steps in with some kick ass super strength and more blue spark shooting.

Is it just me or does Peter seem to have more control over his powers as an amnesiac than he ever did at full memory?

Otsu, Japan
Hiro works his nerdy charm on Yaeko, trying desperately to keep his mask on. Later, Yaeko gives the real Kensei her father’s sword. Kensei and Hiro are ready to leave on their rescue mission when the sword gang from earlier appear out of nowhere and shoot Kensei. Oops! Hiro’s freaking out, thinking he’s royally screwed up by getting his hero killed. But wait! What’s this? His arrow wounds are closing up….and he’s alive again! Wacky theory time: any possibility that Claire is one of Kensei’s descendants?

Mrs. Petrelli is interrogated at the NY police station. She reveals that the red symbol marked on the pictures are the logo for her husband’s law firm (more on this in moment). Parkman’s trying to read her thoughts, which she figures out quite quickly. But not before she mentions revenge as a possible motive for the attack on Mr. Nakamura. Nathan’s arrived to pick her up, when she’s attacked by an unseen person or force? Nathan and Parkman are able to get to her in time.

Copy Kingdom
HRG is on the phone with Mohinder, who gives him the update on his assignment. Their plan is still working. HRG: “You’ve given me everything I need.” Surprise! Hey, it’s the Haitian!

Bennett Home
Claire’s sitting around watching a dog show on TV with Mr. Muggles, with her feet up on the table, bio book open. Hmmm….lizards. Cell regeneration. Useless pinky toe. Scissors. What’s a girl to do? Let’s cut that toe off and see if it grows back! Ewwwww. While really disgusting, watching it grow back is kinda cool.

Hey, it’s that stalker boy West and he’s watching her through the window. Claire fails to find him outside, but he’s left her a little present: Dr. Suresh’s book. Would he just hurry up already and reveal himself? Otherwise, he’ll just keeping coming off like some freaky stalker.

The Mysterious Symbol
Here’s a recap of where we’ve seen it and what we know about it:
- Molly Walker sees it in her dreams of the Big Bad Guy and draws it in her pictures
- Kensei’s crest
- According to Ando, it means both “god send” and “great ability”
- Logo for Papa Petrelli’s law firm
- Peter’s necklace
- Marked on ‘death notice’ photos of Mr. Nakamura and Mrs. Petrelli

Dancing With The Stars RECAP: 10/01/2007

2007-10-02T23:07:00.000-04:00

This week DWTS was even more entertaining than opening week! Almost everyone brought their A game. Drew Lachey was back again this week co-hosting. (woohoo) Always good to see him. There were slips, tears and way too much of two Osmonds!

Mel B - Ouickstep
It was fun! She and Maks danced to Ah ha's "Take On Me." The judges seemed to like her, a 23.

"Fast paced, lots of energy" -Carrie

My favorite part came after she danced, when Drew was done interviewing them, he did his whole things with the phone number and texts, etc. This is what came next:

"So people give her what she wants, what she really really wants" - Drew (in reference to the Spice Girls "Wannabe")

Mark - Mambo
That guy man, he just really is having the best time! Judges gave him a 18.

"If there was a prize for hard work, dedication and a will to win, you'd win that prize." - Len

Wayne - Quickstep

Oh My! It was kind of sad to watch, he's a great entertainer but not a great dancer. The judges gave him a 15.

"You brought some of Las, Vegas to the Ballroom" -Carrie

Marie - Mambo

GOOD but.... she pulled her dress up like 4x, come on girl! She got a standing ovation(well deserved) Even Bruno got up and shimmied a little bit. The judges gave her a 24.

"Absolutely great" -Len

"You're one hot cougar" -Carrie

Albert - Quickstep

The judges gave him a 21.

"Wild kind of silly energy"- Carrie

"I've got a feeling your going to be the dark horse this season" - Len

Helio - Mambo

WOW!!! They both really moved on the floor, it looked like he has been dancing a long time when really he had a hard time moving his hips to start. The judges loved him too, 27.

"You were right on the beat you never lost it, even professionals would find that hard to do" -Bruno

"You're like the real deal man!" - Carrie

"You went into overdrive I'll tell you what, that was so good, very very well done"

- Len

Jennie - Quickstep

Ouch! It was just OK to watch, but right at the end her partner got caught in her dress and they both fell. Still judges gave them a 21.

"I think Ballroom is going to really suite you" - Carrie

Cameron - Mambo

Well it was just OK, in his video that airs right before the performance they showed him having a freaking breakdown, mostly b/c of his schedule. Judges gave him a 21.

"You looked like Superman but danced like Clark Kent"- Bruno

Floyd - Quickstep

He had a hard time getting rid of the boxing frame. I don't know, there is just something about him I don't like! Judges gave him a 21 also.

"Open up your chest a little bit more" - Carrie

"Very light and very fluffy" - Len

Jane - Mambo

It was a little bit slow but she entertains. Judges gave her a 21 (imagine that).

"You're playing to your strengths"- Carrie

"It was precise, exact and neat, an English mambo, prim and proper" -Len

Sabrina - Quickstep

Yet another WOW! it was so quick, that girl MOVES on the dance floor. Judges liked her too, a 26 again.

"Really quite amazing"- Carrie

"The no stress express" - Bruno

"That was blistering, you looked like a professional"- Len

CBS: "Moonlight": Pilot Review

2007-10-02T22:42:00.000-04:00

[From CBS.com] In a life-altering twist of fate, Mick was "bitten" 60 years ago by his new bride, the seductive Coraline. Forever 30 years of age, Mick's as handsome and charismatic as the day he was "turned," and he eschews others of his kind who view humans only as a source of nourishment. With only a handful of like-minded confidantes for company, including the eternally young, wealthy and mischievous Josef, a hedge fund trader who relishes his uniqueness, Mick fills his infinite days protecting the living.

One night years ago, a single act of kindness changed Mick when he saved a young girl's life, making him want to be a better vampire. Now their paths cross again and Mick develops a distinctive bond with Beth Turner. Reconnecting with her unleashes feelings Mick knows he can't pursue without exposing that part of him that would make him a monster in Beth's eyes. As Mick lives between two realities, fighting his adversaries among the undead and falling in love, he discovers the mysteries and pleasures that a valuable life has to offer.

I gotta tell ya folks, I was all ready not to like this show because of it likeness to another vampire series, yep that’s right Angel. I decided to give the episode a watch b/c we are all about fairness here. I personally liked it, not a mind-blowing masterpiece but good. The show is chalk full of cheesiness.

For Example:
· Feeds himself by injecting blood with a needle
· Crazy ability to jump
· Slow motion running
· Always disappearing while the girl is still talking
· Hot girls just hanging around to be fed off of
· Sleeps in a freezer

But there are some good things too:
· Jason Dohring from Veronica Mars!
· All the cast actually
· A nod to the late departed V.Mars (the mention of the Hearst College student)

Now I know the bad definitely outweighs the good, but there is just something about vampire shows that always entertains. I give it a 3, there isn't much on Fridays anyway!

"If your not the killer and let's go with that b/c it's comforting, then who are you?"

- Beth Turner

"Mick St. John, Private Investigator" - Mick St. John

------------------------------------------------

Jenn's opinion: Just humor me for a minute while I launch a cynical mini-rant. The only (and I really mean ONLY) reason I gave this pilot a shot was because of one Mr. Jason Dohring. And surprise surprise! he's the only thing I enjoyed about the entire show. He wears sarcasm well, what can I say? Nonetheless, I found myself struggling to stay awake during the episode.

"Moonlight" is in my opinion, a poor man's "Angel." It's not only cheesy, but rife with craptacular special effects. It lacks the witty humor of "Angel" or "Buffy."

If you're looking for a better vampire show, catch "Blood Ties" on Lifetime.

I may DVR a few more eps to see if there's any improvement. Should my rating be a surprise? Two!

Let's Talk 'Housewives' and 'Brothers & Sisters'

2007-10-01T19:39:00.000-04:00

First up, Desperate Housewives:

Oh that Edie. So deliciously manipulative. Guess it shouldn't have been surprising that she would fake suicide to reel Carlos back in. I was curious as to how the writers would work their way out of that finale that left us, for lack of a better term, hanging. Edie should be grateful that Mrs. McCluskey is so nosy.

Bree and Orson continue to keep up the fake pregnancy charade, but not without a few near-disasters. The barbecue poker in the belly was a riot. But on a more serious side, it was a bit sad to hear Bree talking about wanting the new baby to be her second chance, since she now knows what she did wrong with her first two kids.

Bree's also finally met her match. New/old Wisteria Lane neighbor, Katherine Mayfair. That chick makes Bree look tame.

Continuing with the depressing: poor Lynette. M and I have always hated how, season after season, they put her through so much crap. The woman never catches a break. First, they have her hooked on her kids' ADD meds, then she tries to go back to work and has to deal with being the sole income provider of the household, then she finds out her hubby has an illegitimate child, then she's forced to quit that job and help run her husband's pizza shop, and now, they give her cancer?! Why can't they just let Lynette and Tom be happy for a change?

Susan's preggers! Her exam with Dr. Mayfair was one of the funnier bits in this episode. Hey, would you be able to relax if a hot doctor was examining your...well you know.

And speaking of Dr. Sexypants, welcome back to television Nathan Fillion! We missed you! (even if it was only for a few months - damn FOX for canceling "Drive")

I hope they give him more to do in the upcoming episodes. DH has a way of misusing their guest talent (e.g Alfre Woodard's odd son-locked-in-the-basement storyline).
The new mystery this season is semi-intruiging. Hopefully the resolution won't be lame.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brothers and; Sisters - "Home Front"
One of the few success stories of the 06/07 TV season. There was talk of behind the scenes trouble that was resolved when Greg Berlanti (creator of "Everwood) was brought in as showrunner and Sally Field replaced Betty Buckley as Walker family matriarch, Nora. Thank goodness for that!

Personally, I found the pilot to be so-so. Then, week by week, each episode was better than the one preceding it.

The family dynamics make this group really fun to watch. They may be grown adults, but they certainly seem to act like adolescents, what with their habits of starting phone trees anytime one of them has a secret.

Last night's premiere was quite entertaining. The episode had a good balance of laughs, bickering, and tears.

Nora and Kitty's wedding dress shop squabble ending up on YouTube? Hilarious!

It was about time for Rebecca to confront Kitty, who seems to be the only Walker that has yet to embrace the recently discovered half-sib. But, then again, can you blame her? While Rebecca may seem genuine towards Nora, you still get the feeling that she probably shouldn't be trusted completely. There's gotta be a good reason, why else would her own mother warn Nora about her?

The most uncomfortable scene had to be when Julia blew up at Tommy about the loss of one of their twins, William. I can't believe she had the balls to say: "Tell her (Nora) to talk to me when Justin dies." The nerve!

Kevin (Matthew Rhys) was by far, the most amusing to watch. It was nice to finally see him happy in a relationship. Loved his drunken comment about "Richard Chamberlain and his cute little white collar - it’s taboo and it's irresistible, ooooh." Of course, we knew it wouldn't last for too long. But did they really have to send Jason off on a missionary trip to Malaysia? If "Viva Laughlin" is DOA like many are predicting, maybe we'll see Reverend boyfriend back sooner!

And the funniest moment for sure: Nora and Holly are at William's grave when a busty young woman looks to be headed to their spot. The looks on their faces were priceless!

Quick Reminder: More Premieres Tonight!

2007-09-30T19:16:00.000-04:00

9PM
Watch it Live: "Desperate Housewives" is back! And look who's moving onto Wisteria Lane: Dana Delany and NATHAN FILLION!

DVR it: "Family Guy"

10PM
Watch it Live: "Brothers & Sisters," one of our favorite new shows from last season returns for more family dysfunction.

When we last saw the Walker clan: Sarah and Joe were splitsville, Tommy and Julia had lost one of their twins, Kitty proposed to the Senator, the Senator proposed back, Saul's little secret was revealed (to the audience), and Kitty and Nora bid a tearful farewell to Justin, who headed off to Iraq.

Dancing With The Stars: RESULTS!

2007-09-30T19:03:00.000-04:00

The results show, almost always my favorite night. I just love watching those professionals dance.
After 2 huge nights in the ballroom, it came down to MEN vs. WOMEN.

All the judges felt like this was the best start to any season, not only the dancing but also the entertainment. The couple that combined both of these qualities in “perhaps the best cha cha cha they have ever seen” were Sabrina and Mark..

They should use Kenny Maine more often, NOT for dancing, but for the funny bits. Oh and by the way where was Jimmy Kimmel? I missed his instructions on dancing!

Well obviously the first couple to leave was Josie and Alec. She was just BAD. I do feel sorry for Alec though, that’s 2 seasons in a row for him. I did feel like maybe they set Josie up a bit. All during “Testosterone Tuesday” when they talked about elimination, they showed Josie’s face. I mean come on, I know the girl is bad, but at least give her a fair shot.

OK that’s my rant on results, TUNE IN....Seriously I’ll be here every Monday and Tuesday keeping you up to date!

Dancing With The Stars: Testosterone Tues.

2007-09-30T18:52:00.000-04:00

Nothing unusual to start Tuesday night. Cameron managed to stay on two feet walking down the stairs (you go boy!) He had the joy of starting the night for the men.

Cameron Mathison - Foxtrot
it was just eh to watch, the judges gave him a 21.
“Really good job for the first time out” -Len
“Good arm line” - Bruno
“Started off stiff” - Carrie

Floyd Mayweather - Cha Cha Cha
Well he got the 5x US National champ (Karina) but did she get another Billy Ray? Judges gave him an 18.
"Great Potential" - Len
"I'm gonna change your name from Mayweather to September Storm"- Bruno
"Fast, furious, and full out but lacking finesse" - Carrie

Helio Castroneves - Foxtrot
It was such a cute performance. Julianne is just awesome. The judges like them too, 25.
"You're a natural"- Carrie
"King of speed, now the king of charm" - Bruno
"Julianne you've continued where you left off last season"- Len

Albert Reed - Cha Cha Cha
Aye Dios Mios! Where do I start, umm ripping the shirt off, GREAT move. People might not have a freaking clue who this guy is, but they will! Judges gave him a 21.
"It gyrated, rotated and pulsated. It was like watching a stripper"- Len
"It was more other stuff than it was cha cha" -Carrie
"The crotch action was like a warp drive, I got a hernia just watching it"- Bruno

Mark Cuban - Foxtrot
The judges and I both noticed the guy just seems to be having a blast. A 21 was the score.
"Bouncing bionic billionaire"- Bruno
"Your more of a showman than I thought you would be" - Carrie
"Came out and gave a really first class performance" - Len

Wayne Newton - Cha Cha Cha
Poor Cheryl. She's had so many winners, but I guess it was probably time for her to get a middle man though. It's not that he's terrible, it's just that he is older and certainly not going to make it to the top. The judges gave him a 19, we shall see.
"So charming, but we need more hip action"- Carrie
"Great basic moves"- Len
"The sizzler from Sin City" - Bruno

So overall the Men, not so great. There were a lot of fun things, but I wasn't sitting there watching them in anticipation of what they might do next.

Let's Talk Betty and Grey's!

2007-09-30T18:51:00.000-04:00

We love our ABC Thursdays and boy is it grrreat to have it back!

Ugly Betty: Santos is alive! But no, actually he’s not. It’s all in Hilda’s head. Why why why? Why did they have to mess with our heads like that? Not cool.

We’re willing to forgive a bit, thanks to everything else that was simply FABULOUS about the episode, “How Betty Got Her Grieve Back.”

Highlights: Aye Dios Mios!

- Las pasiones de Betty - the Henry/Betty/Charlie triangle as a telenovela
- Amanda’s amazingly quick weight gain (damn, that girl can eat!)
- Amanda still walks her model strut, complete with hand on hip
- Wilhelmina’s “tearful” update on the Meades for the press
- Betty having to wear an eye patch (ahoy matey!)
- Amanda and Marc’s visit with her parents and their “internet friends”
- Bradford Meade may be Amanda’s daddy! Which would make her little trysts with Daniel quite…incestuous. Yuck!
- Coco Chanel-quoting fashion elf Justin, AKA the perfect Mode intern
- “Never send a girl to do a woman’s job” Marc stealthily obtains Bradford’s ear hair (eww) for a DNA test
- Marc dressed as Wilhelmina
- Henry’s back!

We’re deliriously happy that this show is back. We missed our Betty!

-----------------------------------------
Grey’s Anatomy: “A Change is Gonna Come”

Bailey to McDreamy: “Oh, you don’t have anybody to talk to. Addison is gone, Burke isn’t around, and you and Grey aren’t smelling each other in the elevators any more.”

Highlights:
The Amusing: Christina, Meredith, Izzie, and Alex channel their inner Bailey on their first day as residents.
Bailey avoiding the Chief
Christina calling her interns by number, b/c she doesn’t want to remember their names
The not-dead dead guy
Izzie’s “I’m Bambi” speech to George / Izzie saving actual Bambi
Lexie talking up George to the other interns -- is it just us, or was she semi-likable? I mean, she did help George out. Of course, he's the one who isolated himself from his old group.

The Sad: Christina getting the news about Burke’s resignation, the little girl blinking to communicate to her dad
Seriously?: George telling Izzie “I love you too.” Oy vey, when will this finally end?

The Awkward but oh-so-Entertaining: Mark telling Derek: “I didn’t come to Seattle for Addison. I didn’t come to Seattle to be chief. I came to Seattle for you, I came to get you back”
All together now: awwwwww! hehe

Dancing With The Stars: MONDAY

2007-09-30T17:51:00.001-04:00

So when it comes to Dancing With The Stars, I already feel like an expert. Since I was little I've been in love with dancing. My sister and I used to be each other's partner, dancing around our kitchen and living room like it was a grand ballroom. So obviously this show is right up my alley. I should also mention J caught dancing fever too!!
As a new season of DWTS begins, I'll be here, your resident expert on all things Dance!

On Sunday it was announced that usual co-host for DWTS, Samantha Harris, had her baby. So ABC made the decision not to reveal the new co-host until Monday. (DARN THEM!) As the show opened with music playing, the camera panned the audience and focused on none other than season 2 winner Drew FREAKIN Lachey! The new contestants walked down the stairs for the first time with big smiles and one in particular was the most fun to watch: Cameron Mathison and his slip down the stairs.

So Monday night was ladies night and boy did those ladies shine!

Jennie Garth kicked things off.
The cha cha cha, getting a 21 from the judges.
"Soft and floppy free leg" - Len
"Yummie mummie" - Bruno
"Really really well" - Carrie

Josie Maran - Foxtrot
She was funny but really uncoordinated, earning only a 16 from the judges.
"Out of your element" - Carrie
"You're like a beautiful sailing ship stranded on a sand bank" - Bruno

Sabrina Bryan - cha cha cha
It was young, fun, with some hip hop flavor. Can I just say WOW! The highest season opening score yet, a 26 from the judges.
"Fierce" - Carrie
"Bewitching blond dynamo" - Bruno
"Surgical precision" - Len

Marie Osmond - Foxtrot
She tried to be a "sex kitten" (gross). Judges gave her a 21.
"Flashy yet sassy" - Bruno
"Lovely" - Len
"The foxtrot suits you" - Carrie

Mel B - cha cha cha
She's fun you know there is gonna be lots of entertainment between her and Max. Judges liked her too, 24.
"Better dancer than I thought" - Carrie
"I liked it a lot" - Len
"Feisty kitten, right on the money" - Bruno

Jane Seymour- Foxtrot
She screamed like a teenage girl when she saw her partner was Tony! Judges gave her a 24.
"Essence of elegance"- Bruno
"Gave me chills"- Carrie
"Elegance personified" - Len

Overall the ladies totally ROCKED Monday night. Can the boys live up to the hype?

ABC: "Dirty Sexy Money" Pilot Review

2007-09-30T17:34:00.000-04:00

The official description from ABC:

Power, privilege and family money are a volatile cocktail. Living proof of this are the Darlings of New York City, so absurdly wealthy, they put the upper in Upper East Side. This preeminent family are always getting mixed up with the wrong people and finding themselves in the middle of bad situations. It'll take a miracle to take care of the legal and sometimes illegal needs of the Darling family.

That miracle comes in the form of Nick George. As a boy, Nick watched his father surrender his freedom and family as the Darling's trusted consigliere. Nick grew up in a troubled household where he was always second to the overpowering Darling family. Burned by his own boyhood encounters with them, he vowed never to follow in his father's footsteps. The idealistic Nick did a 180-degree turn and became a lawyer for the disadvantaged.

After the mysterious, sudden death of Nick's father, family patriarch Tripp Darling offers Nick the opportunity to inherit the responsibility of protecting the Darlings' secrets. The job, with an ungodly salary, will allow Nick the freedom to be an altruistic do-gooder. But he discovers all too soon that his new position requires him to be an all-around problem fixer, hand-holder, therapist and public relations expert.

J’s thoughts: The Darlings are complete and utter nut jobs! The children are narcissistic, needy, over-the-top, and incredibly high maintenance - almost to a point of cartoon-ish ridiculousness. Which is what makes this show such a total GUILTY PLEASURE!

The most devilish of the Darling children is ironically, also a minister. Reverend Brian has hated Nick since childhood for some reason, but he needs his help in getting his illegitimate child admitted to a prestigious boarding school.

Tripp (Donald Sutherland) and Letitia (Jill Clayburgh) appear to be more semi-normal than their offspring. But not by much. They need to be either intoxicated or highly medicated to put up with their offspring.

M’s thoughts: “Money makes everything go wrong” - Nick George

What a fun show to watch! My two favorite things about this show, besides the fabu cast: Tripp (Donald Sutherland) offering Nick the job as the Darling family lawyer for a whopping $10 Million a year, basically b/c he misses Nick’s dad.

My second fave thing....

Patrick (William Baldwin), an Attorney General who is married with kids and whom we assume to be happy, actually has a lover. And not just any lover, a she who used to be a HE! That’s right, a transvestite lover who he tries to payoff.

We were both hoping to not like this show (mainly b/c we really don’t need to add any more to the lineup), but we couldn’t help it! It’s just good campy fun. AND, it makes Wednesday nights really easy for us – keep the channel tuned to ABC!

Can’t wait to tune in next week for more of the shenanigans and misdeeds of the Darlings!

This one gets a rating of : 4 – definitely set your season pass beyotches!

ER: "The War Comes Home"

2007-09-30T16:48:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday’s premiere of ER was great! The show picks right up from where it left off. Neela had just been trampled at a "peaceful" protest and Moretti (Stanley Tucci) had just taken over as Chief.

Watching the show, I couldn’t help but notice what a super jerk Moretti is; it doesn’t look like he is gonna make it easy for anybody that works there, especially Gates. It was nice to see Abby, Pratt and Morris, whom I personally thought would only be around for 1 season, form this tight group.

With Neela being so critical, everyone was constantly asking or trying to find out about her: was she all right, what are her vitals, is she awake from surgery.....

Gates and Abby really rally for Neela. They keep up on her condition, Abby even going so far as actually accompanying Dubenko into surgery. And at the end of the episode, all of our favorite County General docs and nurses end up in the waiting room with good thoughts for one of their own.

We just loved this episode.

Quotes of the Week

2007-09-30T15:50:00.000-04:00

This week's premiere of "How I Met Your Mother" was chock full of hilarious moments like:

Ted: Gail?
Gael: No, Guy-el
Barney: Kyle?
Gael: No, Guy-el
Marshall: Girl?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Barney commenting on Ted’s butterfly tattoo: "The Tramp Stamp. A ho tag. Ass Antlers. A Panama City license plate."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marshall: Check your e-mail. Sent you something.
Barney: What is it?
Marshall: Just a new website. Slapcountdown.com.
Barney: What does this mean?
M-Marshall?
Marshall sniffs hand, lifts hand up ready to strike…
Barney: Nooooooooo!!!!!

Non-HIMYM quotes in the full post!!

That’s the kind of dirty that don’t wash clean.”
- Amanda on Ugly Betty, reflecting on having a past sexual relationship with possible half-brother, Daniel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rule #1: Don’t bother sucking up, I already hate you. That’s not gonna change.”
- Christina, channeling her inner Bailey, on Grey’s Anatomy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally, only those crazy Family Guy folks could do a hilarious send-up of “Star Wars” complete with a title sequence that segued from Luke and Leia, to this:

“Angelina Jolie kissed her brother. Yeah, she did. You know it, I know it, and her dad knows it. That’s why they hardly ever talk anymore. You can run away to Africa, but you can’t run away from the truth.”

Just for Fun: Gratuitous Shirtless Males of the Week

2007-09-30T13:15:00.000-04:00

For your viewing pleasure, may we present our new weekly [or bi-weekly, depending on the varying degrees of shirtless-ness] feature: Gratuitous Shirtless Male Pics of the Week.

Sorry to any male readers that happen across our blog, but hey, you get enough half-naked women on TV everyday, let us have our fun :)

First up, Peter Petrelli - chained up and half-clothed somewhere in Cork, Ireland.

Source: miloventimigliafan.com

Look it's Bizarro Clark - and he's suddenly found the need to take his shirt off. And to that, we say thank you!

Source: smallvillededication.com

And finally, just for kicks, Ted Mosby's "tramp stamp."

Weekly Rewind: Monday-Wednesday

2007-09-29T15:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry this is coming so late, but we do have day jobs too people!

Prison Break: "Fire/Water"

Thankfully, they didn’t prolong the ‘find Whistler’ storyline (thanks to Mahone). Michael was able to win favor with Lechero by providing water to squelch the inmate revolt.

Now that Whistler’s out of the underground, how the hell is Michael going to get him out of Sona? And boy, did that Whistler clean off the sewer dirt quickly! Not too hard on the eyes either :)

BONES: "The Widow’s Son in the Windshield"

Zach couldn’t adapt in Iraq so they sent him home, not really giving us much time to miss him. He walks through the door about halfway through the episode, with a swanky new military buzz haircut. Speaking of haircuts, how about Hodgins new look? Very Nice.

The interrogation of the guy with the diamond in his tooth? Creepy!

"The younger the person, the better. Except for babies. Babies taste kind of like fish."

Human flesh. The other white meat. 4 out of 5 cannibals recommend it.

----------------------------------

HOUSE: "Alone"

And boy was he. Very good premiere. Loved Dr. Buffer (aka Janitor dude), who we think should pop in now and again, just for pure entertainment.

It was sad not to see the trio: Chase, Cameron and Foreman.
Other highlights: Wilson holding House’s guitar hostage, Wilson’s love of telenovelas, and House making his search for a new team of lackeys into a competition. All the potential candidates have numbers around their necks, so that House doesn’t have to learn their names of course.

------------------------------------------

Gossip Girl: "The Wild Brunch"

Serena and Dan - over before it began? Probably not. This is a soapy show is it not? They’ll be lots of back and forth all season long.

It’s interesting that Nate isn’t over Serena and she seems...not interested. And why is Blair so intent on sleeping with Nate - does she think that sex will make him forget about Serena?

So, Serena’s mom and Chuck’s dad huh? Well well well. We’ll see where that heads. Serena will not be a happy camper. Would you want your mom dating the father of a creepy, teenage serial date rapist who openly downs Scotch at a brunch?

Speaking of Chuck, how about that threesome? One word: ewwwww. How much did he have to pay them?

And sweet, innocent Jenny. Blair is gonna have a wicked easy time corrupting you. Don’t be her pawn!

----------------------------------

Private Practice: "In Which We Meet Addison, A Nice Girl From Somewhere Else"

There’s been quite a bit of negative buzz about the quality and writing of this show. For us, the episode was ...eh. There were a few entertaining bits, but it felt like something was missing. There was no oomph to it. No attitude. What happened to the confident, take-charge fashionista whose grand entrance shook things up at Seattle Grace? The one that we all fell in love with and forgave for cheating on McDreamy? It's understandable that they don't want to be Grey’s 2.0, but they sure didn’t let us forget it with that whole opening involving Chief Webber.

But on the positive side:
- TIM DALY, so hot!
- The funny risky business dance complete with The Sprinkler move.
- Cooper tied up.
- Pete thinking his kiss was so special that it convinced Addison to move to Cali.
- Chief Webber's all-too-brief appearance

We love all the actors on this show, so we really hope they work out all the kinks!

Big Premiere Night THURSDAY!

2007-09-27T13:12:00.000-04:00

8 PM
Watch it Live: Ugly Betty
DVR it: My Name is Earl (one-hr premiere) / Smallville

9 PM
Watch it Live: Grey’s Anatomy
DVR it: a second chance to catch Reaper (if you haven’t already)

10 PM
Watch it Live: Big Shots [series premiere]
Michael Vartan and Dylan McDermott return to TV (yay!)
DVR it: ER

Here’s a (brief) rundown of where we left off:
Ugly Betty: Daniel and Alexis were in a nasty car crash, Henry’s ex Charlie declared she was preggers with his baby, Betty discovers the baby might not be Henry’s (but not before Henry took off), Bradford and Wilhelmina got engaged, Amanda found out Fey Sommers may be her momma (!), Justin performed in the school musical, and got Santos got shot.

My Name is Earl: Earl made the ultimate sacrifice for crazy ex-wife Joy and landed in prison. What will Randy do without him?

Grey’s Anatomy: George failed his intern exam, Christina lost her eyebrows, Alex lost his Jane Doe, Derek was offered the Chief job and turned it down, Callie was named Chief Resident over Bailey, Burke called off the wedding, McDreamy got his flirt on with random woman at the bar, said random woman turns out to be Mer’s half-sis. Oh and Burke skipped town.

Smallville: Mama Kent moves to Washington, Chloe discovers her power, a few people are presumed dead, evil Clark appears, dam bursts.

ER: Luka left for Croatia to see his dying father, Neela finally found Ray in the hospital (without his legs!), the ER got a new chief, Neela found herself in grave danger at an anti-war rally.

What Are YOU Watching Tonight: WEDNESDAY

2007-09-25T23:31:00.000-04:00

For ABC's new shows, we did not get the chance to see them before their premieres (w/ the exception of 'Daisies'), thus the reviews will go up later in the week.

8PM
Watch it Live: DWTS results show

9PM
Watch it Live: "Private Practice" on ABC [series premiere]
DVR it: "Gossip Girl" on The CW episode 2
DVR it maybe?: "Bionic Woman" on NBC - the revamped (and hopefully better) pilot

10PM - Two, count 'em two series premieres
Watch it Live: "Life" on NBC OR "Dirty Sexy Money" on ABC
DVR it: "Life" or "Dirty Sexy Money"

Episode descriptions after the jump

[Private Practice] Episode: In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl From Somewhere Else
Addison moves to Cali and starts work at the Oceanside Wellness Clinic. Problem is, no one told her new co-workers.

From TitanTV.com
[Gossip Girl] Episode: The Wild Bunch
Blair tells Serena she knows about her past betrayal, then turns a cold shoulder to her; Chuck hosts a fund-raiser brunch, and Serena brings Dan to the event; and Jenny and Blair become friends.

[Bionic Woman]
This re-creation of the 1970s series focuses on Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) adjusting to her bionic implants, which are installed without her consent after a car accident nearly kills her. First up: Jaime learns she isn't the only bionic woman when the original test subject, who is unstable, turns up to attack her.

[Life]
Wrongly imprisoned for 12 years, Det. Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) returns to the force with a Zen-like perspective that he uses to analyze cases and personal issues. In the opener, Crews investigates the murder of a boy alongside his new partner (Sarah Shahi), who finds Crews' quirky methods off-putting.

[Dirty Sexy Money]
An unscrupulous wealthy family becomes the headache of a lawyer who takes over as counsel when his father dies. In the opener, Nick George (Peter Krause) agrees to represent the Darlings, and is soon embroiled in the clan's bizarre problems.
Starring: Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, and William Baldwin

ABC: "Pushing Daisies" Pilot Review

2007-09-25T22:45:00.000-04:00

The positively, unconditionally, hands-down, BEST new show of the 07/08 TV season!

“Pushing Daisies” defies conventional genre-labeling. Dubbed by many reviewers as a “forensic fairytale,” it also can be described as a romantic comedy, a dark comedy, a crime procedural, a fantasy, and a tragedy all rolled into one fantastically magical hour.

Starring:
Lee Pace as Ned, the pie maker & guy with the touch of life/death
Anna Friel as Charlotte Charles aka Chuck, Ned’s recently deceased, then un-deceased childhood crush
Kristin Chenoweth as Olive Snook, pie shop waitress/perky gal with an unrequited crush on Ned
Chi McBride as Emerson Cod, private investigator who’s also Ned’s partner in murder case-solving reward collecting
Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene as Chuck’s Aunts Lily and Vivian respectively. Former synchronized swimming duo, The Darling Mermaid Darlings

Things to Love About ‘Daisies’
- The whimsical and vivid visuals
- Pitch-perfect narration by Jim Dale (also narrator of the “Harry Potter” audiobooks)
- Narration that doesn’t just state the obvious (a la “Desperate Housewives”)
- Delightful characters
- Ned owns a shop called The Pie Hole
- Ned and Chuck’s hometown is Couer d’Couers (just saying it aloud gives you a little chuckle)
- Chuck’s aunts, Lily and Vivian, have matching personality disorders
- The first episode is titled, “Pie-lette”

We have nothing but great things to say about “Pushing Daisies.” We wholeheartedly recommend this show to anyone searching for a spellbinding and original hour of television. We will bug you to watch this every single week!

Please don’t make us beg. It will NOT be pretty.

Pushing Daisies premieres Wednesday, Oct. 1st @ 8PM on ABC.

What Are YOU Watching Tonight: TUESDAY

2007-09-25T07:14:00.001-04:00

8 PM
[Watch it Live]: “Bones” on FOX
[DVR it]: “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC
It’s the men’s turn to take on either the cha-cha-cha or the foxtrot. Who’ll be this year’s Billy Ray? And by that we mean, a totally polarizing contestant – awful or entertaining?
(Side note: Marissa will be resident recapper for all things DWTS, you'll hear from her after Wed. results show)

9PM
[Watch it Live]: “House” on FOX
[DVR it]: “Reaper” on The CW [series premiere]
We gave this one a 4 TV rating – give it a try, you shall be entertained!!

10PM
[Watch it Live]: “Cane” on CBS [series premiere]

Read the full post for episode descriptions

[Bones] Episode: The Widow’s Son in the Windshield
The Squints are back! From titantv.com: Brennan and Booth investigate a community suspected of having cannibalistic tendencies in the third-season opener. Meanwhile, Angela hires a private eye to find her ex, so she can get their marriage annulled.

[House] Episode: Alone
Alone indeed. After the mass exodus of Dr. Crankypants’s underlings, who’s left for him to belittle and torture? Potential candidates in the running this season include: Olivia Wilde (“The Black Donnellys,” “The O.C.”), Peter Jacobsen (“The Starter Wife”), Anne Dudek, and everyone’s favorite White Castle-seeker Kal Penn.

[Reaper] From titantv.com: Slacker Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) becomes a reluctant bounty hunter for the devil (Ray Wise) after his soul is accidentally sold to Satan by his parents. In the opener, he gets his first job: capturing a pyromaniacal demon that escaped from hell and must be returned to eternal damnation.

[Cane] From aol.com: Patriarch Pancho Duque (Hector Elizondo) sets off a bitter feud when he bypasses his eldest son (Nestor Carbonell) and names his son-in-law (Jimmy Smits) as heir apparent to the family rum and sugar business. Meanwhile, the rival Samuels family wants to obtain Duque's lucrative sugar crops by any means.

Heroes: "Four Months Later" [Recap]

2007-09-24T23:58:00.000-04:00

“How long can they dwell in the shadows before either fate or their own flawed humanity draws them out into the light again? And how will they know what awaits them when it finally does?”

The answer to that is apparently, four months. What has happened to our favorite Heroes after the showdown in Kirby Plaza? Let’s take role call:

- Mohinder is back to lecturing, this time in Cairo. A strange man keeps showing up to watch. Mohinder finally confronts him – he works for The Company and is there to offer a job. Not surprisingly, he can also turn objects to gold. Mohinder then contacts HRG (or can we call him Noah now?) and confirms that their plans are in motion. They’re working on something big to take The Company down. Speaking of the former Mr. Bennett….

- Who is now going by Butler? The former HRG has uprooted the family to Costa Verde, CA. He’s working at a Kinko's-type place called Copy Kingdom. Can’t seem to get away from the paper industry huh? I guess he picked up some actual experience at Primatech while kidnapping and conducting experiments on Heroes.

- Claire meanwhile has to adjust to a low-key, existence at a new high school. Something tells me, that it won’t last too long. Oops! Looks like she’s already drawn the attention of West, who’s not quite who he appears to be. Of course, only we the audience know that little flyboy already knows that Claire is “different.” And there’s bitchy cheerleader moment that I don’t care to recap at the moment. What’s more interesting is she calls Nathan – how does she know he’s alive?

- Newbies! We’re introduced to Maya and Alejandro, siblings on the run in San Cristobal, Honduras. And who are wanted for murder. They talk about reaching NY to find…some answers? I’m guessing they’re looking for one Dr. Mohinder Suresh? Anyway, Maya’s got some kind of crazy power – which involves killing people by making them bleed out from their eyes.

- Parkman’s OK! And he’s a real live cop now! He’s moved to NYC and is hiding out with Molly at Suresh’s apartment. We also learn that he and his wife divorced – wasn’t she preggers? Molly’s teacher warns Matt of Molly’s increasingly disturbing pictures. All with the same symbol and creepy eyes. She’s been having nightmares about the “bad man” again and they’re only getting worse. Those sounds Matt heard while reading her sleeping mind creeped me out.

- We see Hiro’s landing in 1671 Japan again. There’s an eclipse, some arrows shot, and Hiro saving a mystery dude on a horse. He thinks it’s Takezo Kensei, his childhood hero. Turns out to be some random guy paid to do his bidding. After teleporting away from the combat, Hiro meets the real Kensei, who turns out to be a ‘gaijin’ – which is Japanese for foreigner or person of non-Asian descent.

Hiro learns that age-old lesson, meeting your hero is never what it’s cracked up to be.Instead of an honorable sword saint who fights for honor, the real Kensei fights for whomever pays him the most money. And he’s kind of a drunk.

- Meanwhile, back in present-day Manhattan, Mr. Nakamura and a suited up Ando (has he been taking tips from Barney Stinson?) are pondering about Hiro’s whereabouts. Mr. N finally admits that he’s proud of his son’s mission and will patiently wait for him to turn up. Ando also brushes right past a disheveled looking Nathan Petrelli! Yikes, talk about unrecognizable (I had to rewind the DVR to double check). More about him later. Mr. Nakamura then receives a picture of himself that’s been marked with the same symbol from Molly’s drawings. He tells Ando he’ll be dead in 24 hours.

- Nathan stumbles into Peter’s old apartment to find Mama Petrelli waiting for him. They argue over keeping the Peter’s things there since he’s dead. Nathan orders her out and while in the hallway, she finds a picture exactly like Mr. Nakamura’s. She’s marked for death as well. She later meets Mr. N up on the rooftop – they theorize that it could be one of their own, seeing as there are now only 9 of them left. So, someone’s set out to off the older generation, who could it be?

- Mr. Nakamura is on the rooftop alone when a mysterious hooded figure approaches. He seems to know exactly who it is. However, he doesn’t get much time to defend himself, as the figure attacks and pulls him off the building to his death. Yikes.

- Nathan later drowns his sorrows at the bar. Taking a short glimpse in the mirror, he sees himself fleshless (eww), just what the hell happened after Peter went kaboom?

- And finally, we wind up in Cork, Ireland. Three guys looking for box 9109 – it’s empty…..except for somebody crouching down in the corner! Voila! It’s Peter Petrelli, half-naked and chained up! With apparent amnesia. He's also wearing a necklace with the same symbol from Molly's dream and Mr. Nakamura and Mrs. Petrelli's marked pics. Looks like Petey will be in Ireland for a little while.

Ok, that about wraps things up for now. I’m sure I missed some things. Let me know in the Comments section!

Can’t wait for next week!

What Are YOU Watching Tonight: MONDAY

2007-09-24T14:48:00.000-04:00

The first full night of premieres launches tonight! Here's the rundown:

8:00PM
Watch it Live: "Chuck" on NBC [series premiere]

Computer nerd Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) becomes a vital secret agent in this series mixing comedy, action and sci-fi. First up: Chuck is drawn into shadowy global espionage when subliminal gov't secrets are downloaded into this brain. He soon attracts the attention of a CIA superspy (Yvonne Strahovski) and a hardened NSA agent (Adam Baldwin).

For our review, click here.

----------------------------------------------------------

DVR it: "How I Met Your Mother" on CBS

Robin introduces her new bf, an Argentinian hunk named Gael (Enrique Iglesias), while Ted hooks up with a wild Mandy Moore.

-------------------------------------------------------------

"Dancing with the Stars" on ABC

A Spice Girl, Kelly Taylor, Wayne Newton, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, amongst others put on their dancing shoes.

(Side note: No Samantha Harris!! She finally had her baby; a temp co-host will be announced on tonight's show -- BEST FREAKING NEWS EVER!!!)

----------------------------------------------------------

Watch ONLINE: "Prison Break"

==================================

9:00PM

Watch it Live: "Heroes" on NBC

The season 2 opener reveals the fates of Nathan, Peter and Matt after the face-off with Sylar, as a new threat presents itself to those on the list. In other events, Hiro meets his idol in feudal Japan; and the Bennetts strive for normalcy in California.

DVR it: "K-Ville" on FOX
When a jailbreak triggers a manhunt, Cobb and Boulet follow unconventional leads to New Orleans' airport; Boulet and his captain battle frustration in dealing with the city's criminal sheriff; evidence exposes a deplorable cover-up.

==================================

10:00PM
Watch it Live: "Journeyman" on NBC [series premiere]
Journalist Dan Vasser is leading a pretty ordinary and happy life, until one day when something a little bit unusual happens. Okay, maybe more than a little bit unusual. Can you blame his family and acquaintances for thinking he’s losing his grip when he suddenly disappears for long stretches and claims to have been traveling through time? In the premiere of this truly outlandish drama, Dan finds himself taking a trip back to the 80’s and must figure out how to keep his life from melting down as a result. (courtesy of Yahoo)
For our review, click here.

What Are YOU Watching Tonight: SUNDAY

2007-09-23T19:12:00.000-04:00

The Fall TV season launch kicks into high gear this week. Here's the stuff on our schedule tonight:

Watch Live
8:00 PM - "The Simpsons" kicks off its 19th season:
Homer falls in love with the high life of flying in private planes when he saves Mr. Burns from drowning, and Burns repays him by flying him to Chicago for a night on the town. Lionel Richie has a voice cameo as himself and Stephen Colbert provides the voice for Homer's life coach.

OR your second chance to catch "Gossip Girl" on The CW

9:00 PM - "Family Guy" returns in all its over-the-top, raunchy glory:
The sixth season opens with a "Star Wars" spoof in which Luke Skywalker (Chris Griffin) enlists Han Solo (Peter) for a mission to take a Death Star back from Darth Vader (Stewie), and rescue Leia (Lois) from his evil clutches. Brian takes Chewbacca's role, while Quagmire is C-3PO and Cleveland is R2-D2. Rush Limbaugh, Helen Reddy and Chevy Chase have voice cameos

OR refresh your memory on the happenings of Wisteria Lane's third season.

Finally, at 10:00 PM - "Brothers & Sisters" serves up highlights from the freshmen season, complete with outtakes! C'mon, who doesn't like a good blooper reel?

Burn Notice: "Loose Ends"

2007-09-23T19:02:00.000-04:00

When spies get fired, they don't get a letter from human resources.

They get BURNED...

Michael Westen, an international spy who suddenly finds himself blacklisted. Dumped in his hometown of Miami without money or resources, Michael struggles to put his life back together and find out why he's been burned. In the meantime, he uses his unique skills and training to help people in need ... mostly people who can't get help from the police.

Michael is joined by Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar) an ex-IRA operative, who also happens to be an ex-girlfriend; and Sam (Bruce Campbell), a washed-out military intelligence contact who's being used by the feds to keep tabs on Michael.

He's also forced to confront the family he went halfway around the world to get away from - particularly his mother, Madeline (Sharon Gless) who couldn't be happier to have her son back in town. (USAnetwork.com)

"Michael what's going on?" - Mama Weston
"They want to bring me in" - Michael
"Who, who is it?" - Mama Weston
(With Sarcasm) " I don't know, covert intelligence agencies don't call you up and tell you why their hunting you!" -Michael

What we liked:

Jeffrey Donovan narrating, instructing the audience on how to become a spy.
Sharon Gless back on our T.V. as mother to yet another son named Michael.
Fiona, the gun-crazy ex-girlfriend that's still in love with Michael.
REALLY though, just about everything!

It's funny b/c when I saw previews for the show I thought, great another wannabe spy show. Boy was I wrong. That first episode sucked us in and didn't let go!

The Fantastic 2 hr. season finale kept us on the edge of our seats the whole time. The action, drama and yes, comedy steady throughout.

Just when we think we might find out why Michael was burned, they complicate it and make it a cliffhanger.

"When you work in intelligence you get used to the idea that some information is worth risking everything for. You sign up for the lifestyle or the millions of frequent flyer miles, but finally it all comes down to putting your ass on the line to learn something" - Michael

Check out the following link for some bonus info on "Burn Notice" (returning 2008)

Summer TV Wrap-Up

2007-09-23T17:56:00.000-04:00

With the finale of “Burn Notice” this past week, we bid a fond farewell to the Summer TV season of ’07. All the cool kids hung out on the cable block.

We had two shortly spaced out seasons with the boys of “Entourage.” Thankfully, we won’t ever have to hear the word ‘Medellin’ again (we hope). Johnny Drama got finally got his own pad. He also got some attention and some action at the same time. Way to go Drama!

So the Cannes trip didn’t quite work out as planned……better luck next season boys!

Read on for our take on the rest of summer's highlights:

“Big Love”
Props to Ginnifer Goodwin for entertaining us with Margene’s antics. Like the youngest sister-wife, we too took a little liking to Ana, Bill’s diner gal. Poor Margene is in desperate need of friends, especially outside the family. Well, judging from the way Bill reacted to seeing Ana at Joey’s engagement party, we very well might be seeing more of the girl in season 3.

“Army Wives”
We were not expecting to get sucked into a drama about a group of Army wives. BUT, it’s from Mark Gordon, one of the exec-producers of “Grey’s Anatomy.” So naturally, all the soapy antics of the wives kept us tuned in well after the first episode. We loved all the gals: sassy Roxie, no-nonsense Pamela, timid but loyal Denise (who finally learned to assert herself), mother-hen Claudia Joy, and level-headed honorary wife, Roland.

The cliffhanger ender was incredibly annoying and it looks like we’ll have to wait until Spring (!) for the resolution.

“My Boys”
This show is all about fun and big laughs. As a lot of reviewers have noted, these characters are easily the most relatable on TV. They don’t have heroic powers, they don’t solve grisly crimes, hell we don’t even see them at work (with the exception of PJ and Bobby). What we do see is the best part of their days: hanging out with each other. I mean, who wants to be reminded of how craptastic their day at work was (for that, you can probably tune in to “The Office”)?

Again, another finale with a cliffhanger. Just who did PJ invite to go to Italy with her? Our money’s on either Bobby or the cute Cubs player.

The 4400: "The Great Leap Forward"

2007-09-23T17:11:00.000-04:00

When it comes to USA’s "The 4400," we’ve been hooked since day one. Not usually sci-fi fans, there was something in the previews that just so captured our attention, that we couldn’t help but watch.

Originally a mini-series, it did so well in the ratings that (thankfully) USA managed to retain the cast for a second season. Now as we end the fourth season with even more questions, we sit in anticipation for what comes next.

“ I’ve been authorized to accept your offer of assistance” - Meghan

“What did you have in mind?” - Kyle

“ We need to restore order to the streets, I’d like to use your people as a temporary
security force” -Meghan

Kyle informs Megan that there is already a plan set up.

“I’m glad you're so prepared to take over Seattle, but when this is over, I want my city
back!” -Meghan

After a Promicin outbreak, all of Seattle is quarantined and NTAC and Promise City must work together to minimize the chaos.

Jordan is abducted by Isabelle Tyler and the “Marked”

Tom Baldwin is “Un-Marked,” and a 4400 dies.

I loved that a couple of our favorite characters ended up with abilities of their own.

Meghan Doyle - director of NTAC's Seattle division, can turn objects into flowers.

Marco Pacella - The lead analyst in NTAC's theory room, appears to be able to look at a picture and WHAM! he appears there.

It leaves us wanting to know: Will Tom Baldwin take the shot? And what of that last scene sign, welcoming us to Seattle nee Promise City, the city of goodwill?

"Make this world better than it is!" - Isabelle (her final words)

XOXO Gossip Girl

2007-09-23T13:22:00.001-04:00

Neither of us had ever heard of the "Gossip Girl" books before this show. Probably because we're not exactly in the target market. But you don't have to be a sixteen to be entertained by this Josh Schwartz-produced show.

The mastermind behind "The O.C." brings us yet another guilty pleasure about super-rich, super-spoiled teens. This time around, things are a tad bit darker.

What we liked:

Serena - Blake Lively makes S a likable character, a former bad-girl trying to change her ways

Dan Humphrey - the always reliable Penn Badgley works the knight-in-shining armor angle

Plenty of boozing, partying, smoking, and occasional date rape-attempting to go around

And of course, the lovely Kristen Bell serves as narrator - the titular Gossip Girl

Blair Waldorf is played to bitchy, Mean Girl perfection by Leighton Meester. Her calm demeanor after witnessing Serena's exit with the Humphrey sibs from the "Kiss on the Lips" party was a bit too calm. You keep waiting for her to completely lose control and flip out. Well, this was only the first episode. Plenty of time for meltdowns later. Or just a whole lotta scheming and backstabbing, which is guaranteed.

We're upping our original rating to a 4 -- definitely tune in and give it a try (if you haven't already), this is a prime replacement for those still mourning "The O.C." [season one-level O.C., not season three]

FOX - Why Bother?

2007-09-23T13:04:00.001-04:00

If you were wondering when the rest of our reviews for FOX's new fall offerings were coming... well, they're not. If you recall from our introductory post, we don't cover reality shows (unless they happen to be DWTS or one of the craptastic VH1 shows that we not-so-secretly love to watch).

The only other new scripted show is "Back to You" and neither of us really cares for Kelsey Grammer or Patricia Heaton. We're sure that "Frasier" and "Raymond" fans may enjoy it due to the fact that, judging from reviews, neither actor is straying too far away from the characters that made them famous.

It's just not our cup of tea. Sorry folks!

We will stick to covering our favorites: Family Guy, Prison Break, Bones, and House. We're giving K-Ville a chance. The rest of our precious TV watching time will be devoted to the other networks.

FOX Monday premieres: Reviews

2007-09-23T12:53:00.000-04:00

Series Premiere: K-Ville

First off, why did they show a preview of all the highlights of the episode literally 5 seconds before starting the show? Somewhere, Lewis Black's head is exploding.

The pilot started off with a somber tone, reminding us of all the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We're introduced to Martin Boulet (Anthony Anderson) in the midst of the chaos, trying to maintain some semblance of control and provide help. His partner Charlie suddenly flips on the freakout switch and flees.

Two Years Later - Boulet still lives in the 9th Ward, still hanging on to hope that things will be fixed. He gets a new partner, in the form of the mysterious (but only for duration of the episode, more on that later) Trevor Cobb (Cole Hauser). They spend the rest of the episode solving a case involving shootings at charity fundraisers for the 9th Ward.
Overall: a bit different from most buddy cop shows, but not completely. This is definitely a show that you'll need to give a few more episodes before making a final decision.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Prison Break
Season 3, Episode 1: "Orientacion"

We all heard the rumors that the boys would end up back in prison by season 3. Just how that would happen, no one knew. Sona is definitely no Fox River.

Loved the new opening - mostly because it's 90% Wentworth :)

Sona is a tense, disgustingly filthy, and dangerous place; so treacherous that the guards have given up and left.

Poor poor Michael - all on his own and already target numero uno of Lechero, apparent bad-ass in charge. Lechero and his band of cronies are in complete control.

Their ultimate method of population control? Setting up kill-or-be-killed fights. Michael just happens to piss off Lechero enough to win a spot in the next fight.

We spend the rest of the episode in suspense (but not really, since you know they can't kill of the main star). We know Michael will be fine somehow and of course, whaddya know, Mahone comes to his rescue.

Overall: full of all the edge-of-your-seat suspense that PB does so well. Well, we've got the first half of the season plot laid out.

Is the Company behind the LJ and Sarah kidnapping? Why do they want Michael to break out this sewer-dweller Whistler guy? Who's this chick with the bloody scratches all over her face? Will Bellick finally get some clothes?!

The Big Bang Theory - DOWNGRADE!

2007-09-21T19:21:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of EW's Front Row site, we were finally able to watch the full pilot.

If you recall, in our original CBS review post, we gave the show a rating of 2 based solely on the previews. Well, here we go on the full review:

From the creator of "Two and a Half Men" – Strike One

Annoying laugh track (that plays even at unfunny moments) – Strike Two

Overabundance of nerds-meet-hot girl jokes & predictable outcome? – Strike Three!!!

Every "funny" joke in this show has already been shown in the previews. Compare it to a super-spoilery movie trailer, where you get all the best parts and by the time you watch the full thing, it doesn't have nearly the same effect.

For "The Big Bang Theory," it was only half-amusing to begin with.

We put forth an honest effort to review this show -- Marissa could not make it through the entire episode (can ya blame her?); I did, but only barely.

It was so predictable and unfunny, we are forced to downgrade it to a 1 -- Waste of airtime!

NBC: “Bionic Woman” Pilot Review

2007-09-18T19:54:00.000-04:00

The last of NBC’s newest offerings this fall, “Bionic Woman” is a remake of the ‘70s series.

The details from NBC:
Struggling as a bartender and surrogate mom to her teenage sister, Jaime Sommers (Michelle Ryan) didn’t think life could get much harder. But when a devastating car accident leaves her at death’s door, Jaime’s only hope for survival is a cutting-edge, top-secret technology that comes at a hefty price. With a whole new existence and a debt to re-pay, Jaime must figure out how to use her extraordinary abilities for good, while weighing the personal sacrifices she will have to make. Ultimately, it’s Jaime’s journey of self-discovery and inner strength that will help her embrace her new life as the Bionic Woman.

What did we think?

Zzzzzzzzzzz….Oh, hey what were we watching now? Oh, yeah, that’s right, it’s the new, flashy “Bionic Woman.” Well, let’s just say it, under whelmed. The opening was semi-interesting, but the rest of the pilot felt a bit too rushed. Implausible would be the best way to describe it. Obviously the very concept of a “Bionic Woman” is improbable; however, when it takes Jaime all of five seconds to master combat skills, there’s something fishy with that.

The pilot left us with more than a few questions:

Why would Jaime need a trainer (Will Yun Lee) if she has miraculously acquired fighting skills without even spending any time with him?

How did her boyfriend manage to walk away from the car wreck with little more than a bruise and some scratches?

Who are those people running the underground research facility and why do they want to build a superhuman agent? What are their motives?

The version we watched was the original pilot, which has since been re-tooled and the role of Becca, Jaime’s sister, has been recast. The character is also no longer hearing-impaired. We may reserve judgment until we watch the (hopefully) improved pilot – but for now, “Bionic Woman” is getting a rating of:

Our recommendation: if “Private Practice” really sucks and “Gossip Girl” fails to deliver (or just isn’t your cup of tea), then you may want to check out “Bionic Woman. It premieres Wednesday, Sept. 26th @ 9:00PM

Tune In Tonight: Monday

2007-09-17T18:32:00.000-04:00

"Prison Break" is back tonight! What's going on with the boys?

From FOX:
The season opener finds Michael Scofield in Sona, a hellish and deadly Panamanian prison where a previous riot has forced all authority out and has left the prisoners in charge of their own lives (and deaths). With the fate of his loved ones hanging in the balance, Michael must to find Whistler, a mysterious fellow inmate hiding within the prison’s sewer system, in order to break him out from a prison from which there is no way out. Meanwhile, Lincoln searches for a missing Sara and receives troubling news about LJ on “Orientacion.”

Also premiering tonight is K-Ville at 9:ooPM:
(And if you miss it tonight, don't worry, you'll get another chance tomorrow night when FOX encores the pilot)

Starring: Anthony Anderson and Cole Hauser

An unlikely and heroic team of Marlin Boulet, a brash, wry, in-your-face NOPD veteran, and Trevor Cobb, the redemptive tough and committed cop harboring a dark secret, is born. Battling an upsurge of violence, understaffing of police forces and a lack of crime labs and other facilities, the cops who remain in the New Orleans Police Department have courage to burn and a passion to reclaim and rebuild their city. Rounding out the crew are wisecracking Jeff “Glue Boy” Gooden, the team’s comic relief; tough-as-nails Ginger “Love Tap” LeBeau, the only female on the squad; and Captain James Embry, who wrangles the eclectic personalities of his squad with equal parts humor and tenacity. Through its no-holds-barred crime stories and dramatic personal stories, this intriguing story takes viewers from the Victorian mansions of the Garden District to the rubble of the Lower 9th Ward in the “Pilot” episode of K-VILLE

We didn't get a chance yet to watch K-Ville, so we'll be watching along with everyone else. We'll let you know our verdict tomorrow.

Let's talk Emmys

2007-09-17T18:11:00.000-04:00

Apparently, last night’s telecast is receiving less-than-stellar reviews. But hey, what do you expect? It was on FOX. You should always have low expectations going in when it’s the network that cancels good shows and fills two-thirds of its schedule with crappy reality shows. We personally enjoyed the show for the most part. Here are our random thoughts:

The in-the-round stage setup
M: Hmm, well this year, I actually kind of liked it. Though they should have had people talk and give out awards from all sides to include everyone.
J: Why is it that every major award show is using this setup now? While I absolutely love the Ugly Betty cast, I didn’t exactly want to look at their blurred faces all night long (and I’m sure they weren’t terribly thrilled either)

The reaction shot of TR Knight after the Isaiah Washington joke
M: Lame! They never should have panned to him; just rude really
J: Really went for the easy jokes there didn’t you, FOX editors?

Ryan Seacrest’s intro music – “Party Like a Rock Star”
M: Totally hilarious
J: oy vey

WINNERS we love:

Jeremy Piven (Supporting Actor in a Comedy)
M: WOO HOO I love The Pivs
J: – yay for The Pivs! Personally though, I wanted Neil Patrick Harris to win (at least for the Bob Barker ep alone!)

Terry O’Quinn (Supporting Actor in a Drama)
M: yay! for the win. interesting (and brave) for the shirt
J: The man has always turned out engaging and powerful performances week after week as the enigmatic Locke; it’s about time he was recognized! Loved the little dig @ the overpaid “Housewives.”

Jaime Pressly (Supporting Actress in a Comedy)
M: OH JESQUITA! Jaime really turns it out playing Joy.
J: Aw, snap! She got me a little teary.

Katherine Heigl [or apparently Hi-GELL] (Supporting Actress in a Drama)
M: Bout time! I remember watching her with Denny and when she cried I sobbed. I am really happy for her.
J: I know there are a lot of Izzie haters, but we both think she deserved some recognition. Maybe people are forgetting the beginning of last season, with all the grieving-over-Denny drama and her struggles to get back into the (surgical) swing of things. Well done Katherine! We fully support you!

Also totally thrilled for: America Ferrera, Judy Davis, Ricky Gervais, and Sally Field – well deserved. Ricky Gervais is a genius.

And the biggest surprise: “30 Rock” for Best Comedy Series! Tina Fey thanked new NBC honcho Ben Silverman (“Six years in advance") and the “dozens and dozens of fans” You’re welcome Tina!

Highlights:
- Don’t Forget the Lyrics with Rainn Wilson & Kanye West
- Stewart and Colbert giving Ricky Gervais’s award to Carell
- ANYTHING involving Steve Carell
- Terry O’Quinn, Katherine Heigl, and Sally Fields’ speeches (What the frak FOX? Censorship sucks)
- Stewie and Brian’s opening song – even though they dissed Zach Braff
- Ellen’s “I don’t know what’s going on” bit
- Elaine Stritch – anytime she was on
- Why Lewis Black felt the need to scream at the audience I don’t know, (is that his normal style? Anyone?) but he made some pretty valid arguments

What the &*%#? Moments:
M: Well I figured out why the bleeped & panned up during Sally Field’s acceptance speech, but I am still trying to figure out why did they do the same thing to Ray Romano?

J: Someone should’ve censored Brad Garrett for his awful jokes

J: James Spader? Really? Does anyone even watch “Boston Legal?”

Psych: "Bounty Hunters!"

2007-09-16T19:27:00.000-04:00

My favorite elements of this show are its laid back approach and endless (and sometimes obscure) pop-culture references. It's continually entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny. AND, it just got renewed for a 3rd season! Woo!

The finale was full of hilarity as usual. Here are the highlights:

Shawn: "Dude, I'm pretty sure this is the boat from 'Dead Calm.'
Gus: "Great, now we have to worry about Billy Zane too?"

Dwayne Cantana: "Did he just wink at me?"

Shawn: "Just pretend like we're in 'Road House.'
Gus: "Fine, then I'm Patrick Swayze."
Shawn: "Sam Elliott."

Gus: "Maybe if someone would've tied up the boat, we wouldn't have been swimming around like the couple from 'Open Water.'

As for the ending: They've been slowly building up Shawn and Juliet as a couple for quite some time (they were "perfect matches" according to the compatability test in the speed-dating centered "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, Oops He's Dead" ep) and while it wasn't exactly a 100% payoff, I'd say it was about halfway there. I rather enjoyed the "very close talking."

Other funny moments included:

Henry forcing Cantana to sing the Tikihama camp song

Kevin Sorbo as bounty hunter Byrd, who looked exactly the same as he did 20 years prior

Gus continuing to drive while ducking from Byrd

Gus breaking out the Super Smeller

NBC: "Journeyman" Pilot Review

2007-09-16T15:33:00.000-04:00

From TVGuide.com: San Francisco newspaper reporter Dan Vasser (Rome's Kevin McKidd) has the perfect life — a dream job, good friends, a devoted wife (Gretchen Egolf) and son — until he starts having blackouts, during which he travels back in time and crosses paths with his presumed-dead former fiancée (Moon Bloodgood). To get back home, Dan must first alter the events of a stranger's life in order to save him. But will Dan be tempted to change his own past and reunite with his old flame?

The concept is both interesting and original -- like nothing we've seen on TV recently.

It’s actually difficult to describe our feelings for “Journeyman.” I say this because for all of the other pilots we’ve watched, a large amount of notes were taken. While watching this pilot barely any were taken. Now this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it was more of a, we were so engrossed in what was going on that we didn’t want to miss anything, kind of thing.

I can tell you we did enjoy the pilot, and that Kevin McKidd is definitely a strong leading man. I can also tell you that this is a show that you certainly need to pay attention to. There is a lot of information and back and forth flashes that could possibly be disorienting, not only to the watcher but also to Dan Vasser (McKidd). It was intriguing enough for us to want to find out where it's headed.
Overall the Rating = 3
"Journeyman" airs Monday's at 10pm on NBC

NBC: "Life" Pilot Review

2007-09-16T14:16:00.000-04:00

“Life was his sentence and Life is what he got back” - Attorney Constance Griffiths

Premise: Detective Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) wrongly imprisoned for 12 years is given a second chance at life. After his exoneration, thanks to close friend and attorney Constance Griffiths(Brooke Langton), he chooses to return to the force to find the real culprits behind his incarceration.

J’s thoughts:
Charlie Crews eats fruit like House pops Vicodin. Maybe that's the source of his quirkiness and Zen state. OR maybe that's due to spending 12 years in a maximum-security prison.

I thought the documentary-style interviews were an interesting method. I'm not sure if they'll keep up with this style throughout the season?
Marissa and I could not stop laughing during most of the 1st half. This may be another show in which the quirkiness of the lead character makes the show fun to watch.

I was not expecting to like this pilot as much as I did. It was a pleasant surprise and considering that I don't have anything else scheduled for Wednesdays @ 10pm, I'm going to give this one a try.
Rating = 3 ¾

M’s thoughts:
Well where do I start. I was mesmerized by the way Crews eats fruit is probably a good place. It was kind of refreshing and super funny to see someone in their thirties not understand the concept of a cellular phone, and I think (hope) little bits like this keep popping in.

Crews is all about being “zen,” which kind of makes him appear wacky. Really the “zenness” is what makes him a better detective, it gives him a calming effect on almost everyone he talks to.

This is not your standard cop show people!!
Rating = 4
"Life" airs Wednesdays at 10pm

NBC: "Chuck" Pilot Review

2007-09-15T21:24:00.000-04:00

As we were preparing for the new fall season, we were most looking forward to ABC's new programming. However, we ended up be being pleasantly surprised at what NBC had to offer: a multitude of new and different shows that really piqued our interest.

Premise: A one-hour, action-comedy series about Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi) – a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government’s most vital secret agent. When Chuck opens an e-mail subliminally encoded with government secrets, he unwittingly downloads an entire server of sensitive data into his brain. Now, the fate of the world lies in the unlikely hands of a guy who works at a Buy more Electronics store. Instead of fighting computer viruses, he must now confront assassins and international terrorists. NBC.com

Just how much did we enjoy "Chuck?" Enough that it will be replacing "Prison Break" on our Watch Live list. Yeah, it's that good.

Cameo alert!: Matthew Bomer (late of ABC's short-lived "Traveler") pops in as Bryce Larkin, Chuck's old college roomie/assumed-to-be-accountant, but actually rogue CIA spy who passes on the gov't secrets to an unsuspecting Chuck.

J’s thoughts:

What I ~~liked~~ loved: the faux spy opening, Zachary Levi as the lovably naïve Chuck, Adam Baldwin doing what he does best: antagonizing the guy he has to protect.

Chuck and bff Morgan call Chuck's sister Ellie's boyfriend, 'Captain Awesome.'
There's also a minor throwaway joke – as Chuck enters a Costco-type Warehouse, he passes a display of AstroDiapers (slightly dated, but still pretty amusing).

Overall impression: while many have been comparing this show to "Alias" and another new fall show, "Reaper," personally I am reminded a bit more of "Jake 2.0" with its humor and its normal-guy-unwittingly-thrust-into-spy-world setup. Hopefully the rest of the episodes will live up to the pilot.
Rating = 5!

M's thoughts:

"Aces Charles, you're aces" Ellie (Chuck's sister)

What I ~~liked~~ loved: ummm just about everything! There was a super cool car chase scene, using porno to defuse a bomb, and the place where Chuck works, "Buy More," is situated right next to a "Large Mart."

Overall impression: I really loved the Alias-style opening. It's fantastic to see Adam Baldwin (Jayne on Firefly) back on T.V.; that dude totally rocks. The pilot is action- packed and funny. They don't throw too much information at you, they kind of ease you into the plot. I seriously think the rest of the episodes will keep with the same energy as the pilot.
Rating = 5

CBS: Round Up Pilot Review

2007-09-15T20:37:00.000-04:00

Usually when anybody mentions the CBS network to us, we yawn. The one and only entertaining show on that entire network is "How I Met Your Mother." Sadly, I can't even remember a time before HIMYM that there was a show on that I actually enjoyed. As this season gets ready to begin, CBS is in the bottom of our watch list, with the exception of "Cane." For those of you out there who are CBS watchers, we give you this brief, semi-biased opinion on the other new shows the network has to offer.

Big Bang Theory

J’s thoughts:
Entertainment Weekly describes it as "Beauty & the Geek: the sitcom." There were a few funny moments, but nowhere near Mother-level hilarity. I'm going to PASS on this one. Rating = 2

M’s thoughts:
2 Geeks with a combined IQ of 360 and 1 “hot” girl. I’m sure there are probably some pretty funny bits but..... I would pass as well. Rating = 2

Kid Nation

J’s thoughts:
Certainly a controversial, but interesting concept. However, child labor as weekly entertainment? No thanks! Rating = 1

M’s thoughts:
Poor little kids with no parents, that’s just so wrong. NO WAY I’m watching this one! Rating =1 (but I’d go lower if I could)

Viva Laughlin

J’s thoughts:
After viewing the extended promo, my first and only reaction was: Huh? Kudos to CBS for trying something….different (to put it nicely). I love me some Hugh Jackman and Eric Winter (please please PLEASE go back to "Brothers & Sisters!"), but that's not reason enough for me to tune in. Rating =1 ½ (for effort?)

M’s thoughts:
After viewing the extended promo, I laughed. Man I love Hugh Jackman and Eric Winter too but I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around a singing/drama show. I love the odd musical episode thrown it but this is just a little to odd even for me. Rating =1 ½

Moonlight

J’s thoughts:
This poor man's "Angel" already got on my bad side this summer with its cheese-tastic promos. The full preview (complete with the recasts) didn't do much to sway my opinion: Oh look! Vampires can be outside during the daytime! This vampire likes to save people, not bite them. He doesn't hang out with the goth-punk dressing crowd. BORING! The only reason I will tune in for the premiere is Jason Dohring, the erstwhile Logan Echolls ("Veronica Mars"). Rating = 2

M’s thoughts:
Yeah I know lots of weird vampire cliches and yet I am still oddly fascinated. There is just something about vampires that makes me want to tune in. I rate the meager promos we are given a 2, but be sure to check back with me after the season gets going!

CBS: "Cane" Pilot Review

2007-09-15T19:30:00.000-04:00

TVGuide.com writes:
Three generations of the Duques, a wealthy rum-making dynasty with Cuban-immigrant roots, struggle for power among themselves and with longtime rivals, the Samuels clan. The ailing Duque patriarch, Pancho (Hector Elizondo), retires and divides the family assets among his daughter and two sons. But Alex (Jimmy Smits), “adopted” by the family at a young age and now married to the daughter, holds control of the company, earning Frank’s resentment. “It’s Shakespearean in scope,” Elizondo says of the drama’s mix of business and family dynamics and buried secrets.

J’s thoughts:
Cramming so many plotlines into one pilot can be both bad and good. It can leave the viewer struggling to keep track. However, they did a decent job of setting up a season's worth of story.

We'll see plenty of family dynamics, power struggles (business and personal), and jealousy over favoritism of a "prodigal son" (in this case, adopted son/son-in-law Alex)

What I liked : can I just say how nice it is to finally see Hector Elizondo back on TV? We were treated to a memorable guest appearance on "Greys" last season, but it's great to have him on our screens on a weekly basis.

Jimmy Smits is effective as the leading man. His Alex is in control, family-oriented, and loyal to the core. There isn't anything he wouldn't do for his family. And really, I mean anything. I won't ruin the entire pilot (unless of course, you've seen the preview, which pretty much gives away every highlight from beginning to end)

Nestor Carbonell's (creepy Richard Alpert on "Lost") Frank is devious, power-hungry and resentful of his father's favoritism of Alex. The expected clashes between Frank and Alex should make for lots of good drama.

Since Nip/Tuck tends to gross or sometimes creep me out more often than not, I may think about DVR-ing it and watching this baby live. Rating = 3 ¾

M’s thoughts:
I personally loved having so many ideas crammed into one pilot. It just makes me want to watch more. I want all the dish but I want them to draw the story out just long enough for the season, any more than that and I’ll start to get angry.

I’ve gotta say I LOVE this cast! I hate to be repetitive so I’ll just say “ditto” to J’s remarks since it was put so well.
Rating = 4

You Watch / I Watch: Funny Gal edition

2007-09-13T22:53:00.000-04:00

Here @ Tuned In...Seriously, we have always shared a mutual love of TV shows. Where we differ has always been in the quantity of shows we're willing to watch. I watch only two that M does not, while she watches about...oh, SIX that I do not. So we struck a similar deal to my BB8/My Boys agreement with RQ: I will give "Men in Trees" a go-round and Marissa in turn, will give "30 Rock" a second chance.

See, we were both rather unimpressed with the "30 Rock" pilot and never picked it up. Then, as the TV season began to wind down this past spring, I began to catch bits and pieces here and there. As the buzz kept growing and the hilarious recaps from my co-worker continuely piqued my curiosity, I decided I'd give it another try. If you haven't seen a single episode, I highly recommend starting with the "Tracy Does Conan" episode. All I need to say is: Blue Man.

I'll let M post her thoughts on my little assignment for her = catching up on the entire first season of "30 Rock." I also have my own homework to complete, finding out what the deal is with "Men in Trees." Thankfully, I have a full month to get this done -- anyone else who watches this wanna tell me exactly why I should love this show?

You Watch / I Watch - Oh "Brother" edition

2007-09-13T22:09:00.000-04:00

Here's the thing: I was able to successfully avoid the time-consuming/patience-draining spectacle known as "Big Brother" for a full seven seasons. Then came season Numero Ocho.

How exactly did I get sucked into the BB craze you ask? I blame it on my co-worker friend, whom I shall refer to henceforth as "RealityQueen." Reality shows are her thing. She's always trying to persuade me to watch something that's not DWTS, AI, or on VH1.

This summer, we made a deal -- I'd give up three nights of my week to follow "Big Brother" while RQ would pick-up TBS's "My Boys." Was it worth it?

I don't quite have an answer for that yet. It was certainly entertaining, to say the least. The only thing I'm sure of is, those people are a bunch of nutjobs! We were introduced to JENuinely ridiculous slogans, bitchfests and people that would cry...every...freaking...episode!

And I allowed myself to get sucked in -- not only watching Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, but also going online and reading updates from the live 24 hr. feeds. What the hell is wrong with me?! I'm also still waiting on RQ to complete her end of the bargain (although to her credit, she has watched a few eps of "Boys" finally and found them to be enjoyable)

SPOILER ALERT! I thought the end of tonight's final HOH competition was fairly anticlimactic. It was inevitable that ED and whiny Daniele would be victorious. I personally think the season will end with a whimper. All the suspense has been taken out of it. Well hopefully there will be a few surprises thrown in. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the houseguests react to Eric's big secret.

Thoughts?

Casting News Roundup!

2007-09-13T19:14:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week in TV land -- here's the latest:

- The adorable Rachel Bilson - last seen (finally) marrying Seth on "The O.C." - will cozy up to another adorkable guy, Zachary Levi, on NBC's "Chuck." (that pilot review is on its way kiddies!) Zap2it.com

- Alyssa Milano ("Charmed") tries to work her magic on Earl Hickey; let's hope she's less annoying and wearing more clothes. Zap2it.com

- The eternally-youthful Morgan Fairchild (really, what is her secret? She looks exactly the same as she did in the '80s and '90s - she's gotta be like 95 by now right?) will vamp up kooky Elmo, AK on "Men in Trees." Ausiello Report

The CW: "Gossip Girl" Pilot Review

2007-09-13T18:40:00.000-04:00

From TVGuide.com: Oh, to be young, rich and bitchy. That seems to be the mantra of the characters in Gossip Girl, the CW's new teen drama based on Cecily von Ziegesar's popular book series of the same name. When former queen bee Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) returns home from boarding school for the upcoming semester, she isn’t exactly welcomed with open arms by her former BFF Blair (Leighton Meester). And that’s just the start of the drama. There are love triangles and more backstabbing than you can imagine.

Highlights:
- Kristin Bell is the voice of the quippy "Gossip Girl!"

The Players:
Dan- Sensitive, Humble and a Loner
Nate- Charming, Conflicted and Lost
Chuck- Wealthy, Handsome and Dangerous
Serena- Beautiful, Dangerous and Fallen
Blair- Popular, Sexy and Vulnerable
Jenny- Young, Sweet, and Naive
(courtesy of CWTV.com)

M’s thoughts: Unfortunately this is a show we were not able to sneek a peek at.
We did get to see quite a few extended previews on CWTV.com though and from what I can tell Josh Schwartz (The O.C.) has done it again. Based on a New York Times best seller, "Gossip Girl" takes you inside the deliciously scandalous lives of the Manhattan elite. I personally am looking forward to this show. I loved me some O.C. and I’m thinking this will be just as juicy and full of drama as that was.

J’s thoughts: As a "Veronica Mars" loyalist, I have a deep-rooted commitment to eternally hate The CW for its appalling choices. Thus, you can understand the struggle of watching their new fall pilots and not totally hating them. We were unable to view the "Gossip Girl" pilot, so we shall have to patiently sit and wait (like the rest of you folks) for the premiere on Sept. 19th.

Our Combined Rating: Without a full view of the pilot, we give it a 3.

"Gossip Girl" will air Wednesdays @ 9pm

The CW: "Aliens in America" Pilot Review

2007-09-12T18:16:00.001-04:00

Half-hour comedy set in Medora, Wisconsin. Main Character Justin is socially awkward, geeky, and unpopular. So much so that he feels like an alien in his own life, hence the title of the show.

From TVGuide.com: No matter what he does, socially awkward teen Justin Tolchuck (Dan Byrd) just can't fit in at his Wisconsin high school. And the antics of his well-meaning but clueless mother (Amy Pietz) don't help. Being on the outside takes on new meaning when Raja (Adhir Kalyan), a Pakistani Muslim exchange student, moves in with this quirky middle-American clan.

For full review, follow the link:

Highlights:
- On Raja’s first day of school the teacher says that the students can benefit from learning about “Muslimism” and “Islamica.”
- Cameo Alert! Christopher B. Duncan (aka Clarence Wiedman on Veronica Mars) drops in as Justin’s school counselor who doubles as a car salesman.

Marissa’s Take: There are a lot of parts of the show that are genuinely funny but I felt like the show left me wanting more. The mother is just too overbearing and grating and in the pilot the father is slightly wimpy and kind of quiet, but who knows with the addition of Scott Patterson (Gilmore Girls) it could be a show worth watching.
Rating: I would give the pilot a 1 1/2 and the show a 2.

Jenn’s Take: The tone and vibe of the show make it a perfect timeslot partner for “Everybody Hates Chris.” While mainly a comedy, there are reminders of the seriousness of the issues (racism & prejudice) sprinkled throughout the pilot. For me, I thought it was refreshing to get a non-sugar coated take on the subject. A bit of heart and good potential.

Rating: the pilot for me was a 3 – but the show as a whole: 2

"Aliens in America" premieres Monday, Oct. 1st @ 8:30pm